Individual given life imprisonment for 2022 execution-style killing associated with MS-13 gang in Montgomery County.

In a significant development, a higher-ranking MS-13 gang member has been sentenced to life in prison, plus an additional 52 years, for his role in the 2022 shooting death of 20-year-old Edvin Agustin Leon in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Edgard Castro-Contreras was convicted of first-degree murder and other charges related to the tragic incident. The State believes that Castro-Contreras is the one who fired the shots that took Leon's life.

The shooting was tied to the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) criminal gang. Two higher-ranking MS-13 members gave guns to three lower-ranked members, who were ordered to kill Leon and a second victim in a "gang-related" shooting.

Agustin Leon was shot and killed, and the second victim survived by pretending to be dead. The victim crawled through a quarter mile of park terrain, crying for help until neighbours called 911.

Brayan Bonilla-Andrade, another MS-13 member, has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges and is facing the potential of two life sentences plus 20 years. His sentencing hearing has not happened yet. Sender Emanuel Godoy-Lemus will have a retrial on May 26, 2026, after the jury hung in his initial case.

Trials for Jonathan Videz Martinez and Carlo Yaque Del Cid are scheduled for Feb. 27, 2026, on first-degree murder and related charges. There is no publicly available information about the names of other co-defendants related to the murder of Edvin Agustin Leon and the attempted murder of the second victim scheduled for trial on the same date.

Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy hopes the Hispanic community can find comfort with the long sentence for the MS-13 gang member. McCarthy stated that MS-13 targets their own communities and has no safe harbor in Montgomery County.

Law enforcement partners believe that for purposes of MS-13 overt criminal activity, it is down. Teresa Casafranca, the chief of the gang prosecution unit, suggested a decrease in overt MS-13 activity due to the Trump administration's crackdown on those in the country illegally.

DC police have been ordered to assist with immigration enforcement under a federal crackdown, not directly related to the Gaithersburg case but mentioned in the article. The hope is that this will further curtail the activities of MS-13 and other criminal gangs in the region.

Individual given life imprisonment for 2022 execution-style killing associated with MS-13 gang in Montgomery County.