A 23-year-old 18th Street gang member will spend the remaining years of his life in prison for killing a rival gang member by shooting him multiple times in the head and back, Prince George’s County prosecutors said.
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It took a Prince George’s County jury two hours in December to conclude that Jose Mauricio Cruz-Mendez murdered 28-year-old Jairon Jeremias Osorio on Dec. 31, 2008. He was sentenced to life plus 20 years in prison Friday.
“This is a good sentence with a strong message: We will not tolerate violence,” Prince George’s County States Attorney Glenn Ivey said. “This case is significant because residents are speaking up and they are fed up of the murder and mayhem committed by gang members.”
Authorities say Osorio was washing his car outside his Takoma Park home on New Year’s Eve 2008 when Cruz-Mendez came up behind him and shot Osorio multiple times in his and head and back. Osorio is believed to have been a member of the 18th Street gang’s bitter rival, MS-13.
A Prince George’s County police officer was working part-time near Osorio’s house at the time of the shooting, prosecutors said. He heard the shots and arrived in time to see Cruz-Mendez running from the scene. The officer got into his cruiser, caught up to Cruz-Mendez and saw him throw the murder weapon under a parked car. He arrested Cruz-Mendez on the spot.
Osorio was survived by his girlfriend of eight years and three children, one of whom was born after his murder.
