US Attorney Robert Hur Announces Establishment Of MS-13 Information Hotline
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Law enforcement is asking for tips about the MS-13 Gang.
US Attorney Robert Hur announced Tuesday a tip line number created to get information on MS-13, the gang responsible for many brutal murders in Maryland.
"They don't just murder rivals," Hur said. "They behead them and dismember them in order to spread fear."
Hur said, oftentimes, MS-13's victims are not even members of rival gangs.
15-year-old Damaris Reyes was killed in 2017.
"She was so sweet," Reyes' mother said. "She trusted everyone, and that, that was her problem."
The FBI rolled out a public service announcement Tuesday, as well.
"MS-13 inflicts fear and violence on the communities it inhabits," Hur said.
The gang often extorts money, calling it taxes, from vulnerable immigrant communities. Montgomery County Police said federal partnerships have slowed the gang's activity in recent years.
"We've had a group of these individuals who have terrorized our community in a way where it's created a lot of fear," Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said.
The Justice Department is trying to fight that fear. They said that they are willing to relocate witnesses and help on a case-by-case basis if a tipster is undocumented.
"We can, we have, and we're willing to continue helping victims and witnesses with their immigration status here in the US should that be necessary," Hur said.
The tipline number is 866-787-6713. Tipsters can remain anonymous.