Updated at 5:10 p.m. Monday: Two defendants were convicted Monday of murder charges stemming from the June 2017 shootings of two Northwest High School seniors on the night before their graduation.
Edgar Garcia-Gaona, 25, of Gaithersburg, and Rony A. Galicia, 26, of Germantown were found guilty after a three-week trial of murdering Shadi Ali Najjar, 17, and Artem Ziberov, 18, according to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Garcia-Gaona and Galicia were found guilty of all charges brought against them, including felony murder, premeditated first degree felony murder, conspiracy to commit murder, armed robbery and the use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence.
According to Montgomery County police, at about 10:25 p.m. on June 5, 2017, Najjar and Ziberov were shot to death in Najjar’s blue Honda Civic while parked in a remote residential area in the 8200 block of Gallery Court in Montgomery Village. In all, between 30 and 31 rounds were fired at the two teens, who were pronounced dead by police at the scene, according to prosecutors.
Four men were charged in the deaths: Garcia-Gaona; Galicia; Roger Garcia, 21, of Germantown, a half-brother of Garcia-Gaona; and Jose “O” Ovilson Canales-Yanez, 26, of Gaithersburg. Canales-Yanez was found guilty in January of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, along with other charges. The case against Garcia, who was on trial with Garcia-Gaona and Galicia, ended in a mistrial two weeks ago when Garcia’s attorney had to step away from the proceedings because of a serious illness, according to prosecutors. A retrial is expected to be scheduled in the coming weeks.
At a press conference inside the courthouse, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said his office will be seeking a life sentence without parole for both defendants, the same sentence handed down to Canales-Yanez. McCarthy detailed how the victims met up with the defendants under the guise of selling graduation tickets, and were killed in retaliation for an alleged theft of marijuana in 2016. He added that prosecutors determined all four of the men participated in the actual shooting.
“They were being lured to their own execution,” McCarthy said of Najjar and Ziberov. “Thirty shots rang out on Gallery [Court] that evening and two young men who should’ve been graduating from high school the next day lost their lives.”
Both fathers of the two victims spoke at the press conference, praising witnesses, the prosecution and the jury for assisting in the judicial process.
“The conviction of these two killers makes Montgomery County safer for the rest of us,” said William Tewelow, Ziberov’s father.
Najjar’s father, Adi, said the tragedy is especially difficult because Shadi was an only child, leaving the Najjars with a gaping sense of loss. He thanked his wife for being strong during the past year, as well as friends and family present at the press conference, though he said the loss still weighed heavily on all in attendance.
“Those criminals took their future away from them,” Najjar said of his son and Ziberov.
Concerning the mistrial declared in Garcia’s case, McCarthy said the circumstances were disappointing in that the families didn’t receive a full resolution Monday, but the prosecution was prepared to secure another victory when the case is retried.
“We’re ready to do it again,” McCarthy said. “We will do it again.”
Glynis Kazanjian contributed to this story.
