Arrest Made in Fatal Stabbing

Friends, Relatives at Vigil Honor Parkdale High Sophomore

One suspect in the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old Parkdale High School student has been arrested, and officers are seeking a second suspect, Prince George's County police announced last night at a vigil for Guillermo Enrique Medina.

Standing with Guillermo's parents in a cold rain, Maj. Kevin Davis, commander of the 1st Police District, said: "We have already made an arrest, and the second arrest is imminent. We know who he is."

Carlos Marquez, Guillermo's uncle, said afterward: "It is good that we see he had so many friends. We just need more information."

About 100 people gathered for the candlelight vigil near the spot along Good Luck Road where Guillermo was killed. Carrying signs that read "R.I.P. Pato" and wearing shirts with Guillermo's likeness, the crowd prayed in Spanish, encircling his parents.

The vigil and announcement of an arrest were the climax of a long day, during which a police source said authorities were looking into the possibility that the killing was gang-related and parents at Parkdale questioned whether students there are safe.

Friends and relatives of Guillermo said earlier yesterday that they are mystified about why anyone would attack him, describing the sophomore as a friendly, easygoing youngster who was not prone to fighting and was not involved with gangs.

"None of us has any idea why this happened," said Guillermo's aunt Maritza Sosa, 47, shaking her head and wiping her tears.

She was one of more than a dozen relatives and fellow Salvadoran immigrants who squeezed into the student's modest brick ranch house on a quiet street in New Carrollton to pay their respects. For much of the afternoon, the visitors sat in silence as they waited for Guillermo's father, Gilbert Medina, to return from a funeral home. Guillermo's mother, Miriam Medina, remained in a bedroom, too disconsolate to speak.

Relatives said Guillermo's mother, a hotel chambermaid, and father, who supervises delivery trucks for a bakery, met in the United States. Each has a child in El Salvador from previous unions, but Guillermo is their only child together. He was born in Virginia.

Prince George's police said people saw Guillermo walking a block from the school about 2:40 p.m. when a tan car approached. He allegedly had an argument with at least one person in the car, who then got out and stabbed him.

A police source, who requested anonymity because the investigation is continuing, said the incident could have been gang-related.

Several close friends of Guillermo's who trooped into the house to join the mourners insisted that he had never been approached about joining a gang, let alone gotten involved with one.