MS-13 Gang Member Wanted for Texas Murders Arrested in Virginia

HOUSTON, Texas — Law enforcement authorities in Virginia arrested an illegal alien MS-13 gang member wanted for his alleged role in two Houston-area homicides. Texas Department of Public Safety officials added the man to their most-wanted list earlier this week.

Houston Police Department officials confirmed the arrest and said they will bring Douglas Alexander Herrera-Hernandez, 20, aka Alexander Hernandez, aka “Terror,” back to Texas to face two murder charges in connection to two separate incidents.

The first incident occurred on June 13, 2016, in Missouri City, a suburb of Houston located in Fort Bend County. The second incident occurred on July 9, 2017 in southeast Houston. Herrera-Hernandez will face the charges in two courts located in Fort Bend and Harris Counties, KHOU reported.

Local police confirmed to the Houston Chronicle that Herrera-Hernandez is a Salvadoran native who is in the U.S. illegally. He is also suspected of being a member of the hyper-violent MS-13 gang.

In the July 9 incident, police say they identified the gang member as the shooter in the murder of Kevin Alvarez, 26, on El Dorado Blvd, in southeast Houston. Responding officers found Alvarez on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency officials transported the victim to a trauma center where he died from his wounds.

After being placed on the DPS most-wanted list, FBI official joined with the Arlington County Police Department in Virginia to take Herrera-Hernandez into custody.

In the earlier incident that occurred in Fort Bend County, police say Herrera-Hernandez participated in the murder of a 16-year-old boy, Estuar Quinones, who had previously witnessed several gang-related murders. The Missouri City Police Department and the Houston Police Department jointly investigated that case, KHOU reported. A warrant for his arrest has been outstanding since the Salvadoran national was identified as a suspect.

The arrest in Virginia of the Texas fugitive comes as police departments and federal law enforcement agencies have teamed up to track down and arrest members of the MS-13 gang.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions traveled to El Salvador last week to meet with local government officials about combatting crimes from the violent gang, Breitbart News’ Ian Mason reported.

On May 5, Breitbart Texas’ Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief Brandon Darby and Ildefonso Ortiz reported: “Five Facts Every American Must Know About the Brutal MS-13 Gang.”

For one, MS-13 members work as foot soldiers for Mexican cartels on U.S. soil. Two Minnesota teens were kidnapped and tortured by MS-13 gang members who were working on behalf of the Mexican Sinaloa Federation cartel. After a Sinaloa Cartel methamphetamine stash house had been robbed in St. Paul, Minnesota, the cartel hired MS-13 members from Los Angeles, California to fly to Minnesota to investigate. They tortured two local teens, nearly severing one finger off of one of the teens to try to get information.

In June, the FBI assistant director in charge of the FBI in New York, William F. Sweeney, Jr., told the House Homeland Security Committee Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, “MS-13 is not the largest street gang in the United States; it is increasingly the most violent and well-organized.”

He told the committee that street gangs in general “show no signs of decreasing memberships or a decline in criminal activity.” In fact, according to the FBI’s 2015 National Gang Report, memberships in gangs increased in 2013 to 2015 in 49 percent of jurisdictions. Sweeney told the members of Congress that the FBI estimates there could be up to 10,000 members of the MS-13 gang living in the United States.

“Their motivation is rooted in a desire to kill for the sake of killing,” Sweeney testified. “The attacks on their victims are gruesome, typically up close and personal. They often involve mutilation and dismemberment and are sometimes recorded.”

On June 10, Breitbart Texas reported that the numbers of unaccompanied minors (UACs) being apprehended at our southern border with Mexico, particularly from El Salvador, was once again on the rise. Although there had been a six-month downtrend, 8,005 UACs from El Salvador have been apprehended after crossing the border illegally since October 1, 2016. There were 1,493 apprehended in May alone — nearly a fifty percent increase from the previous month.

MS-13 members frequently recruit children who are illegal immigrants. The FBI assistant director from New York told members of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence that MS-13 members are “typically much younger than those connected to other street gangs.” They take “cues from the gang instead of relying on a productive family structure. Also, those emigrating from El Salvador to the United States are known to be exposed and desensitized to extreme violence at an early age.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.