A 21-year-old man is facing the possibility of life in prison for fatally shooting a teen at the Fairmont Gardens Apartments in Annandale over an alleged gang rivalry.
Ezequiel Diaz-Mondragon was convicted yesterday (Thursday) by a Fairfax County jury of first-degree murder for killing 18-year-old Anthony “Tony” Benitez on Feb. 19, 2021, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano’s office announced today.
According to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, prosecutors demonstrated during a trial that Diaz-Mondragon, who would’ve been a teen at the time, was driving with two other members of the gang “Culmore City” through Fairmont Gardens (4137 Wadsworth Court), seeking members of a rival group called “A-Town” with whom they had a “beef.”
During their search, they saw Benitez and another teen, identified as OM, walking toward the apartment complex’s parking lot.
“The defendant and his associates got within range, announced themselves, and began firing with multiple weapons, including a Glock and a Sig Sauer P320,” Descano’s office said in a press release. “The defendant aimed directly at Tony, who was hit in the back of the neck and killed.”
According to the Fairfax County Police Department’s report at the time, officers responded to the shooting shortly before 11 p.m. and found OM in an apartment with gunshot wounds to his lower body, while Benitez was found in the parking lot with upper-body wounds.
Despite attempts to save his life by Fairfax County Fire and Rescue personnel, Benitez was pronounced dead at the scene. OM was transported to a hospital for treatment and later released, police said.
During a preliminary investigation, detectives found “multiple cartridge casings” in the parking lot, and an apartment building and “several vehicles” were damaged by the gunfire, according to the FCPD.
It’s unclear how Diaz-Mondragon was identified as the shooter and when he was arrested, as juvenile court records aren’t online and there don’t appear to be any news reports of the arrest.
However, Descano described his killing of Benitez as “a heartless, purposeful decision to end someone’s life.”
“Tony was just spending time with a friend on a Friday night and was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Descano said in a statement. “I am aghast at how random and premeditated this killing was: the defendant set out that night to hunt down someone, anyone, who he deemed to be associated with a specific group. It is the kind of despicable crime that has no place in Fairfax County.”
He expressed hope that the jury’s verdict will help Benitez’s family process their loss “knowing that his murderer has been held accountable.”
In addition to murder, Diaz-Mondragon was convicted on one count of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He faces up to a life in prison for the murder charge and a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison for the firearms charge.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 21.
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