Police: Gang members stab man to death in Silver Spring

Edwin Umana, 21, died in a hospital Wednesday night, a day after being severely beaten and stabbed, police said. He is not believed to be have a gang affiliation and the attack does not appear motivated by gang animosity.

Umana was walking on the 13100 block of Matey Road on Tuesday night when he “called out to several women” sitting on a porch, police said. A man came out of the house and told Umana to leave the women alone. Umana and the man began to argue and several other men came running from the house.

The victim fled, authorities said, but was chased down by his attackers at the intersection of Bluhill Road and Dean Road. And that’s where the beating took place.

Police said 21-year-old Jose Vasquez wielded a knife and stabbed Umana in the head.

Vasquez already is serving a one-year probation for a second-degree assault conviction in November, court records show. The conviction stemmed from an incident in August when he also was charged with carrying a weapon. He was found not guilty of the weapons charge.

In April, he was again accused of second-degree assault, records show. The charge was dropped in early June, when he pleaded guilty to making a threatening call. Vasquez was given credit for 33 days served in jail and released. A spokesman for the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office could not immediately say why the assault charge was dropped.

The other alleged gang members accused in the attack were in their teens and ranged from 16 to 18 years old, police said.

The arrests mark the second time this year Montgomery County officials have rounded up accused gang members after a homicide. In May, police arrested nine alleged members of the 18th Street gang on charges of stabbing a 15-year-old Hyattsville boy to death in a Gaithersburg park. Police say the Jan. 18 attack was part of a gang celebration and the suspects believed Dennys Guzman-Saenz was a member of 18th Street foe, MS-13.

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