Lewisdale Teen Dies In Gang-Related Double Shooting

A young teenage boy in Prince George's County appears to be the latest victim of gang violence, and detectives with Prince George's County Police Department's gang unit were out in force Thursday morning handing out fliers and looking for any information related to a shooting early Wednesday morning.

Police say 14-year-old Eliezer Benjamin Reyes was killed Wednesday morning in a double shooting shortly after midnight on the 2200 block of Sheridan Street in Lewisdale, Md. Another man was shot as well and taken to the hospital in stable condition.

"The preliminary investigation suggests a suspect or suspects fired shots from a vehicle as the victim and two others were walking down the street," says Police Corporal Maria McKinney. "It has being investigated and it is believed that this could be a gang-related incident."

McKinney says a vehicle involved in the shooting has been recovered.

Police believe the shooting was gang related because Reyes was walking with a group that included several documented gang members, according to a Washington Post report. Reyes' father told the Post his son was not in a gang. The Post quotes unnamed police sources as saying that they believe Reyes was walking with members of the Lewisdale Crew gang and that the shooters were members of MS-13, a gang with ties to Los Angeles and El Salvador that has a presence in the D.C. area. 

One of the reasons police are pursuing the case so aggressively is the fear that it could escalate into a tit-for-tat rash of gang violence, according to police officials.