MS-13 member tied to 2 killings
Houston man placed on DPS’ most-wanted list
A Houston member of the MS-13 gang has been charged with murder in two counties amid a growing focus on the brutal Salvadoran gang that Police Chief Art Acevedo called “the worst of the worst.”
Douglas Alexander Herrera-Hernandez, 20, faces charges of capital murder in Fort Bend County and murder in Harris County.
He landed Wednesday on the Texas Department of Public Safety’s list of most-wanted fugitives, along with Carlos Alberto Gonzalez-Barahona, 26, also believed to be an MS13 gang member.
Herrera Hernandez is accused of killing a 16-year-old boy who is believed to have witnessed several MS-13-related murders, according to a news release from the Houston Police Department. The teen was found dead in June 2016 at Buffalo Run Park in Missouri City.
Herrera-Hernandez also is accused of killing another documented MS13 gang member, Kevin Alvarez, 26, on July 9 outside a southeast Houston apartment complex, according to sworn statements from Houston police officers.
Alvarez was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds about 10 p.m. in the walkway between several units of a complex at 265 El Dorado.
A witness said Herrera Hernandez frequented the apartments to buy drugs. The witness said he heard gunshots and saw Herrera-Hernandez fire at Alva---
rez, according to court records.
MS-13 has drawn increasing state and national attention. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions left for El Salvador on Thursday to discuss the gang problem.
And the Houston Police Department is focusing increased attention on local gangs.
Acevedo announced in June he planned to form a specialized unit to combat violent crime, and he spoke Wednesday on National Public Radio about the notoriously violent MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha.
Citing the atrocities committed by the gang’s members, Acevedo called MS-13 a “transnational terrorist organization.”
“They are brutal,” Acevedo said to NPR. “They’re ruthless. They will kill without blinking an eye.”
The department’s ramped-up enforcement of violent crime follows a nationwide anti-gang operation that led to 207 people arrested in the Houston region, the highest number of any region in the country.
MS-13, which originated in El Salvador before spreading to California and then Texas, poses additional risks. The DPS warned in January of the potential dangers posed by transnational gangs such as MS-13 bring — a connection to drug cartels, criminal activity that spans the border and high levels of violence.
Herrera-Hernandez was still on the run as of Thursday, according to court documents.
He is believed to be traveling with his girlfriend, Josselin Leyhmar Romero Flores, 19, and the couple’s infant, said Wendell Gilbert, an officer with HPD’s homicide division.
Herrera-Hernandez is from El Salvador and has been in the U.S. without documentation, Gilbert said. Police are unsure if he has fled Texas. But, “we’re not ruling out that he’s still here in Houston,” Gilbert added.
HPD, DPS, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are all helping with the manhunt.
Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to Herrera-Hernandez’s arrest. Anyone with information can call HPD’s homicide division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477).