Black and Hispanic gang members involved in shooting

Ernesto Londoño:

Seven men were arrested over the weekend and charged with attempted murder in a shooting in Silver Spring this month that involved two street gangs.

Police said they arrived in the 1000 block of Quebec Terrace about 2:30 p.m. March 18 after receiving calls about a shooting.

At the scene, they found Alberto Flores with a gunshot wound in his upper left shoulder.

Police said Flores and a friend, Samuel Rodriguez, were chatting at a gas station when they were approached by a group of black men with whom they started arguing.

One witness told police one of the Latino men threw a bottle toward the black men. Some of the black men started insulting Flores and Rodriguez, with one calling them, "[expletive] Latinos."

As the group of black men grew, police said, Flores and Rodriguez walked away. The men trailed Flores and his friend. Two bullets were fired toward the pair, one of which struck Flores, police said.

A law enforcement source said Flores is a member of the Latino gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. The source did not want to be identified because the investigation is still open.

Michael Warren, 20, one of the men arrested in the shooting, is the leader of a black gang, "88 mob," according to a charging document.

Also arrested in the case were: Raheem Mercurius, 19, Antwan Smith, 18, Thomas Kollie, 20, Antoine Ambrose, 20, Calvin Roy Davison, 19, and Abraham Kamara, 18. They all live in Silver Spring.

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