los angeles — Two 15-year-old gang members from the Los Angeles area pleaded guilty Thursday to murder and attempted murder charges, admitting they were working as hitmen for Mexico. Sinaloa CartelOfficials said.
During two attempts to kill the cartel’s target, they injured two people and killed one, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said each gang member expected to receive approximately $50,000.
According to plea agreements, the teens are members of the Mexican Mafia’s Westside Wilmas gang from the greater Los Angeles area.
On March 27, 2024, they left their homes in Wilmington to find their target at a Chili’s restaurant in Chula Vista, a suburb of San Diego. As the target was leaving the restaurant with his family, they shot him in the parking lot and hit him in the legs, prosecutors said. They also tried unsuccessfully to hit him with their car when their firearm malfunctioned and fled the scene.
Later that night, the two teens showed up at the intended victim’s home with an older accomplice. After the two randomly shot people in the apartment, hitting one in the hand, arm and face, one of the people shot and killed the teens’ accomplice in self-defense, prosecutors said.
The two teens pleaded guilty in federal court to attempted murder and the killing of their partner, which prosecutors described as a “provocative homicide,” meaning their actions were responsible for their partner’s death.
They were charged with attempted murder in aid of racketeering and murder in aid of racketeering — which can carry up to life in prison or the death penalty — because their actions were intended to promote the Westside Wilmas gang, which is also involved in drug trafficking, weapons distribution and more, prosecutors said.
They admitted they were used to kill the target because they were under 16 at the time, making them ineligible to stand trial as adults in California under a 2018 law.
“The disgraceful tactic of cartels, street gangs and the Mexican Mafia of using underage children to commit murder to evade enhanced penalties will not be tolerated,” said Mark Dargis, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s San Diego Field Office.