Final MS-13 gang member sentenced for 2016 deadly ambush of teenage boy
HOUSTON - The final MS-13 gang member who was charged in the deadly ambush of a 16-year-old boy has been convicted and sentenced.
Daniel Arturo Orellana has pleaded guilty to murder and is sentenced to 20 years in prison, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Monday.
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"We have spent years fighting for justice for the victim of the treacherous ambush, and we are satisfied that everyone involved has been held responsible," Ogg said. "His guilty plea ensures he can’t appeal his conviction and that the victim’s family can mourn their loss with the knowledge that his sentence is final."
Orellana, who was 20 at the time Estuar Quinonez was killed, admitted in a statement to police that he’d been a lookout.
Quinonez was lured by several MS-13 members to Buffalo Run Park in Missouri City on June 13, 2016. That's when the teen was shot more than 15 times as he sat on a bench.
"Quinonez was a fellow gang member who had witnessed several gang-related murders, and his killers wanted to ensure that he would never talk," according to a release from the DA's office.
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Orellana joins seven other gang members who have been convicted for their role in Quinonez’s murder.
- Gang member Douglas Alexander Herrera-Hernandez, also known as "Terror," was sentenced to life in prison without parole for capital murder on May 1, 2021.
- Gang member Jose Guerra Sibrian was sentenced to 50 years in prison for murder on June 17, 2021.
- Omar Torres, a gang leader who directed the ambush from behind bars in the Harris County Jail, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for capital murder on Sept. 16, 2021.
- Gang member Darwin Josue Lopez-Ramos was sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder on Nov. 11, 2021.
- Gang member Luis Gonzalez Cruz, who drove the victim to the park where he was killed, was sentenced to life in prison for murder on Nov. 12, 2021.
- Gang member Kelvin Hernandez was sentenced to 35 years for murder on Feb. 11, 2022.
- Gang member Daniel Arturo Orellana was sentenced to 20 years for murder on Aug. 12, 2022.
MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, is a transnational gang that began in Los Angeles and has members across the United States.