In the late summer evening of Friday, September 5, 2025, the community of Silver Spring, Maryland, was shaken by a violent act that ended the life of 17-year-old Charly Blayner Vail Lucas. The young man was in Long Branch Local Park when gunfire erupted near the basketball court, turning a place of recreation into a crime scene. When officers from the Montgomery County and Maryland-National Capital Park Police arrived at the park on Langley Drive, they found two individuals suffering from
gunshot wounds. Charly was pronounced dead at the scene. A second victim, a 21-year-old man, was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition.
The investigation into the shooting quickly led detectives to suspect a connection to another recent homicide. Their suspicions and evidence gathered at the scene pointed them toward a residence on 11th Avenue in Silver Spring. The following day, a SWAT team assisted in executing a search warrant at the home of 20-year-old Jhony Steve Rosales Castillo. Inside, authorities found firearms and other evidence that they believe linked him and another man, 18-year-old Juan Carlos Gutierrez-Hernandez, to the shooting in the park as well as the shooting death of another 17-year-old, Jaril Verde Murillo, that had occurred on University Boulevard East in August.
Both Gutierrez-Hernandez and Rosales Castillo were taken into custody. They have since been charged with two counts of first-degree murder for a minor victim, one count of attempted first-degree murder, and two counts of possession of a firearm. The two men were transported to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit to await a bond hearing. The motive for the shootings and the exact nature of the connection between the two deadly incidents remain part of the ongoing investigation.
