Adult members of the violent Central American street gang MS-13 beat up a 15-year-old male student at a public high school in Annapolis, Maryland because he refused to become a member, police say.
The beatdown occurred outside Annapolis High School in March, Annapolis police told the Capital Gazette, a local news outlet.
A grand jury for Anne Arundel County has now indicted two men for the crime, 19-year-old Carlos Sandoval-Rodrigues and 18-year-old Irving Orellana. Both men are residents of Annapolis.
Prior to the beating, a group of students allegedly trapped the teen victim in a boys’ bathroom at the high school. They told the boy that he would be beaten up later in the day if he did not join MS-13, according to police spokesman Marc Limansky.
Then, after school, the group of students accosted the 15-year-old student. According to information from police, members of the group — it’s not clear which ones — punched the 15-year-old student a bunch of times in the chest.
Orellana, the 19-year-old arrestee, is scheduled to enter ninth grade at Annapolis High School in the upcoming school year.
Police say Sandoval-Rodrigues, who does not appear to be enrolled in school, was on the phone with one of the attackers when the assault occurred.
Limansky, the police spokesman, said that investigators were eventually able to identify Sandoval-Rodrigues and Orellana in May based on information provided by the 15-year-old student.
Local officials referred the case to the grand jury in late June.
The indictment against Sandoval-Rodrigues and Orellana include assault and several gang-related charges.
MS-13 is one of the deadliest and most feared street gangs in the world. The gang’s full name is Mara Salvatrucha. Its members are mostly Hispanic, and the gang is primarily run out of El Salvador.
In October 2012, the U.S. Treasury Department officially labeled MS-13 as a transnational criminal organization. It is the only Latin American street gang to have achieved this notorious designation.
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