After Beating Victim Dies, Seven Face Murder Charges

Montgomery County authorities were preparing to charge seven alleged members of the Latin Kings gang with murder yesterday in connection with an attack that grew out of tension over women.

All seven originally were charged or suspected of attempted murder. But detectives and prosecutors intend to elevate the charges to murder now that the victim has died, a county police spokesman said yesterday.

The victim, Edwin Umana, 21, was stabbed in his left temple and kicked on the ground Tuesday night by at least six of the men, according to the charging documents. Umana was put on life support but died Wednesday, according to police. Detectives do not believe that Umana was a gang member or that the attack was motivated by gang affiliation.

This is the second large arrest of gang members in the past two months in connection with a Montgomery County slaying. In May, at least nine suspects linked to the 18th Street gang were charged in connection with the killing of 15-year-old Dennys Guzman-Saenz, who was stabbed 72 times and dumped into a Gaithersburg creek.

In all, there have been six homicides in Montgomery this year, police said. That is relatively low for a county that has averaged about 20 a year since 1985.

The latest, according to authorities, began when Umana, who lived along Bluhill Road in Wheaton, was walking near his home in the 13100 block of Matey Road and "called out to several women who were on the front porch of a residence," police said. A man came out of the residence and told Umana to leave the women alone. Then more men came out to join the dialogue, police said.

A confrontation led some of the men to chase the victim toward a nearby intersection on Bluhill, where the assault took place, authorities said. Paramedics and police were called shortly before 9:30 p.m. and arrived to find Umana "bleeding heavily" from a wound to his head, according to charging documents.

The investigation led detectives to a home in the 4300 block of Ferrara Drive in Silver Spring, where they arrested Christian Salmeron, 20, and Jose A. Hernandez, 16, both of Wheaton, and Hirbin B. Guerrero, 16, of Rockville. Also arrested in the case was Deshaun Budd-Bey, 18, of Wheaton; Jose Vasquez, 21, of Wheaton; Kevin Miranda, 17, of Silver Spring; and Anthony Racedo, 18, of Silver Spring.

Vasquez told police he stabbed the victim and implicated all six others as having kicked Umana when he was on the ground, according to charging documents. All were charged as adults and were still being held yesterday without bond.