MS-13 Gang Member Pleads Guilty to Brutal Murders of Two Teenage Girls, Putting Spotlight on Suburban Gang Violence
MS-13 Gang Member Pleads Guilty to Gruesome Murders of Two Teenage Girls in Brentwood, Long Island. Case highlights issue of gang violence as community struggles to combat the problem.
In a tragic case that highlighted the issue of gang violence in the suburbs, an MS-13 gang member pleaded guilty to his involvement in the murders of four individuals, including two teenage girls, in Brentwood, Long Island. Enrique Portillo, 26, along with several other gang members, ambushed and attacked 15-year-old Nisa Mickens and 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas with machetes and baseball bats in 2016. The murders, retaliation for a dispute among high school students, shook the community and drew national attention to the problem of gang violence.
Following the murders, President Donald Trump visited Brentwood and vowed to fight against MS-13, promising to dismantle and eradicate the gang. Local police and the FBI began a crackdown on gang activities in response to the community outrage sparked by the killings. Portillo, as part of his guilty plea to racketeering, also admitted to his involvement in multiple other gang-related crimes, including a 2016 gang attack using a baseball bat and standing watch as gang members shot and killed a man in a deli in 2017.
According to U.S. attorney Breon Peace, Portillo showed a complete disregard for human life in his pursuit of status within MS-13. Portillo now faces a potential life sentence when he is sentenced in January. He is the first to be publicly revealed as convicted among several adults and juveniles charged in the girls' deaths, with two adults still awaiting trial and sealed cases involving juveniles. The violence caused by MS-13 has been a longstanding issue in Suffolk County, with the gang being responsible for multiple murders in the area over the past two decades.
The killings of Kayla and Nisa intensified concerns over immigration and its connection to gang violence, leading to increased tension within the community. Evelyn Rodriguez, Kayla's mother, became an anti-gang activist before her own tragic death in 2018 during a dispute over the placement of a memorial for her daughter.