The Best and Brightest

NOGALES, AZ ((FOX 46 WJZY) – An illegal wanted on attempted murder charges in North Carolina was arrested by Border Patrol agents in Arizona Thursday, officials said.

Francisco Lopez-Loyola, 38, of Mexico was arrested east of Nogales, AZ for being illegally present in the United States. According to U.S. customs and Border Protection, Lopez had an extraditable warrant from Catawba County for attempted first degree murder.

Officials say Lopez was processed for immigration violations and turned over to Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office for extradition to North Carolina.

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY (The New York Daily News) – Two Long Island teens, inseparable in life, walked together into a deadly September attack by four homicidal gangbangers swinging baseball bats and a machete.

The quartet of killers, along with their two leaders in the brutal MS-13 street gang, were charged Thursday in the revenge killings of Nisa Mickens, 15, and Kayla Cuevas, 16, federal authorities said.

The horrific Sept. 13 slaughter of the unarmed girls was a homicidal overreaction to a Brentwood High School dispute just one week earlier, a 34-page federal indictment charged.

“While violence and brutality are trademarks of the MS-13 gang, the murders of these … teens are particularly disturbing,” U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said at a Long Island news conference.

“Mickens was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, hanging out with her childhood friend.”

Accused in the double murder were Alexi (Big Homie) Saenz, 22, and his brother Jairo (Funny) Saenz, 19, along with Selvin (Flash) Chavez, 19, and Enrique (Turkey) Portillo, 19.

The 41-count indictment charged 13 MS-13 members with racketeering, murder, attempted murder, assault, obstruction of justice, arson and other charges.

Authorities said 10 of those charged were in the U.S. illegally, coming from either El Salvador or Honduras. President Trump made mention of the Brentwood killings a month after his November victory.

A warrant executed at the Central Islip home of the Saenz brothers recovered an arsenal of guns, knives, machetes, ammunition — and a sword, authorities said.

A pair of fugitive gang-bangers, Elmer Alexander (Smiley) Lopez, 19, and German (Bad Boy) Cruz, 18, were accused in the June 3, 2016, murder of fellow MS-13 member Jose Pena-Hernandez, 18 — who violated gang protocol.

The skeletal remains of Pena-Hernandez were discovered in a wooded area near the abandoned Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in Brentwood in October.

According to prosecutors, the two teenage girls were targeted after Cuevas and some friends had a beef with the Sailors Loco Salvatruchas Westside branch of MS-13.

The vengeful suspects were driving through Brentwood looking for rivals to kill when they spotted the two teenage girls walking along the street.

The Saenz brothers authorized the hit, with Chavez, Portillo and two juveniles linked to MS-13 grabbing bats and a machete to savagely batter the girls.

“I’ve got some type of closure, even though my daughter is not back,” said Robert Mickens, Nisa’s father. “It’s closure to my family.”

ST. JAMES, MN (KEYC) – The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identifies the man who was fatally shot in St. James after in a high speed chase Wednesday.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner has identified the man who died as the result of an officer involved shooting incident as 20–year–old Gilberto Salas, of Gaylord.

They say he died of multiple gunshot wounds.

The incident began Wednesday morning when Nicollet County Sheriff’s deputies spotted a vehicle in Lafayette that had been reported stolen from New Ulm earlier in the day.

Law enforcement pursued the vehicle at high speeds throughout the area; the chase involved deputies from Blue Earth and Brown County sheriff’s departments along with New Ulm and North Mankato police, and the State Patrol.

During the chase, authorities say the driver was identified, and they called off the pursuit for safety reasons.

A half hour later, the suspect was spotted in St. James.

A second police chase ensued.

Authorities have said after Salas drove into a snowbank, he fled the vehicle on foot to the nearby Casey’s gas station where he hid in the office.

According to the press release from the BCA, officers from the St. James Police Department, Watonwan County Sheriff’s Office and Minnesota State Patrol entered the building, deployed multiple Taser rounds. Eventually an officer shot Salas with his firearm.

He was taken to the hospital in St. James, and was pronounced dead.

Authorities have said investigators found a knife at the scene.

The BCA says none of the officers were wearing body cameras and there is no dash camera footage of the shooting incident.

They will continue to interview people who saw or took part in the incident.

They expect to release the officers’ names and additional details at some point Friday when the first round of interviews is completed.

CUMBERLAND COUNTY, NC (The Fayetteville Observer) – A Fayetteville man is accused of inappropriately touching a child.

Jose Orlando Hernandez-Echeverria, 40, of the 300 block of Vancouver Drive, was charged Monday with one count of taking indecent liberties with a minor.

Bail was set at $25,000.

ATLANTA, GA (The New York Post) – A man wanted in the Midtown shooting that injured three men — including two innocent bystanders — earlier this month was nabbed Tuesday in Atlanta, Ga., police confirmed.

Makhtar Diouftrong allegedly opened fire outside the Herald Square Spirits liquor store at 34 W. 31st St. on Jan. 21. The NYPD’s Joint Regional Fugitive Task Force picked him up in the Peach State.

“We got him down in Fulton County,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.” At some point, we’ll bring him back up here.”

Police released video in the days after the shooting that they said showed Diouf and another man, Brian Johnson, 29, approach Ahmend Kabia, 43, outside the store.

Diouf can be seen opening fire, cops said. He hit Kabia in the shoulder, while also mistakenly shooting Romanian tourist Adrian Burduja, 29, in the back and Abdoulaye Kane, 25, in the back and side, sources said.

Kane and Kabia knew Diouf, but the shooter was only allegedly aiming at Kabia, according to the sources.

GASTON COUNTY, NC (CrimeInCharlotte.com) – Charges have been added, and the bond has been raised for a man who is already jailed in Gaston County for sex offenses.

The suspect, 31-year-old Sunny Kay Luangpakdy, was arrested and charged in December after accusations of sex offenses towards a child. According to local police, the suspect’s multiple victims were between the ages of 7 and 9.

After his initial arrest in December, the suspect was charged with two counts each of statutory sex offense with a child by an adult and indecent liberties with a child and one count each of crime against nature and child abuse by sexual act. His initial bond was set at $1 million.

New evidence has arisen since his arrest that has led to additional charges. According to police, additional incidents occurred over the course of several months in between December 1, 2016 and February 1, 2017. The victim in this case was identified as a 7-year-old boy.

As a result, charges of first-degree sex offense with a child as well as indecent liberties with a child have been added, and his bond has been raised to $1.1 million.

WILMINGTON, NC (The Wilmington Star-News) Police have arrested a man who allegedly injured an Ashley High School student in a Jan. 17 crash.

Jose Heredia-Martinez, 25, is charged with felony hit and run with injury, misdemeanor hit and run with property damage, driving without an operator’s license and failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision. According to a news release from Wilmington Police Department spokeswoman Linda Thompson, Martinez was placed under $5,000 bail at the New Hanover County jail.

The crash happened Jan. 17 off of Masonboro Loop Road, according to the release. Martinez’s vehicle allegedly struck one driven by a 16-year-old female Ashley High student. The girl’s car rolled over into a ditch and she sustained “multiple injuries,” the release stated. Rawley wrote in an email that the girl was not transported by EMS, but went to New Hanover Regional Medical Center and was later released.

WWAY later reported:

The man accused of crashing into an Ashley High School student’s car and leaving the scene was in court today for a hit and run. Now, immigration is interested in him.

…

He turned himself in to Wilmington police, but it was revealed he is an illegal immigrant and ICE agents have “an interest in him.”

He will be electronically monitored for the time being.