Venezuelan Gang Members Admit Guilt in Fatal Shooting of Two Unarmed Americans After Illegal US Entry

On Wednesday, federal officials revealed that four members of the infamous Venezuelan street gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), have admitted guilt in the murders of two unarmed American citizens in New York City in May 2024.

The gang members, who had entered the United States illegally, allegedly shot and killed 44-year-old Claretha LaQuesha Daniels and 36-year-old Justin Lawless on a residential street in the Bronx. They also wounded a third victim in the attack, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Keiber “Keybe” Jaen Martinez, Samuel “Klei” Gonzalez Castro, Eferson “Jefferson” Morillo-Gomez, and Keineyer “Keiner” Ibarra-Mujica have pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of murder using a firearm and using a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime.

A fifth member of the gang recently confessed to charges of racketeering conspiracy and a carjacking at gunpoint, increasing the total number of convicted TdA defendants in this case to eight.

Authorities have labeled Tren de Aragua as “one of the most vicious gangs on the planet.”

“They rape, maim, and murder for sport,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Markwayne Mullin wrote in a statement. “Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, we are targeting and removing gang members from our communities and ensuring those that committed crimes in our country face justice.”

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said that after the TdA members illegally crossed the border, they flooded New York City streets with “guns, drugs, sex trafficking, and violence.” 

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche added the terrorist group has “no place and no future in the United States,” and vowed the Justice Department will destroy the organization.

Originally a Venezuelan prison gang, TdA has rapidly expanded into a transnational terrorist organization operating in cities like New York. The group enriches itself through unlawful human smuggling across the border, armed robberies and trafficking a ketamine-mixed drug known as “tusi.”

The gang is particularly notorious for the violent sex trafficking of young women, referred to by the gang as “multadas.”

FILE – Members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang and members of the MS-13 gang were deported to El Salvador by the US in San Salvador, El Salvador on March 31, 2025. (El Salvador Press Presidency Office/Anadolu via Getty Images))

The women are smuggled into the U.S. and forced into commercial sex work to pay off smuggling debts. TdA members maintain control over their victims by threatening their families, assaulting them, and tracking down and kidnapping women who attempt to flee.

The convicts face a maximum sentence of life in prison.