Nilson Granados-Trejo: Illegal El Salvador immigrant charged for fatally shooting 2-year-old Maryland boy

LANGLEY PARK, MARYLAND: An illegal El Salvador immigrant, who faced deportation orders and had run-ins with the law, has been slapped with murder charges for the murder of a two-year-old Maryland boy caught in a shootout while in a park with his teenage mother.

Nilson Granados-Trejo, 25, was charged Monday, February 26, with first and second-degree murder, the fifth suspect busted for the February 8 shooting that killed toddler Jeremy Poou-Caceres and injured his 17-year-old mother, police said.

Two groups were involved in a territorial dispute over drug dealing

According to charging documents obtained by the Washington Post, the toddler was caught in the crossfire between two groups involved in a territorial dispute over drug dealing in Langley Park.

Granados-Trejo was previously twice arrested on theft charges and had been ordered to be removed from the US by an immigration judge in New Jersey but was repeatedly released from custody despite three immigration detainers, FOX 5 revealed.

However, his public defender argued that the defendant should be granted pretrial release because he was “at the wrong place, at the wrong time” as a passenger in the shooter’s vehicle, as per Washington Post. 

Assistant State’s Attorney Giovanna Miller noted that Granados-Trejo is “a co-conspirator or an accomplice” in a murder and has previously failed to appear in court at least three times while also using several aliases. Judge Donnaka Varner Lewis agreed that he’s a flight risk and ordered him held without bail.

Who are the four other suspects arrested in the case?

Four other suspects have been arrested in the case, Israel Fuentes, 33, Johnny Alejandro Turciosa, 28, and two teenage boys, a 15-year-old and 16-year-old both charged as adults. Fuentes and Turcios are said to have been in one of the groups in the shootout while the two teenagers were in another.

What did Nilsson Granados-Trejo tell the authorities?

Granados-Trejo admitted to police that he was riding in a stolen Ford Explorer with Fuentes and Turcios at the time of the shooting. He also said that he saw Fuentes “shooting a firearm during the incident,” according to documents cited by the outlet.

Nilson Granados-Trejo is living in the US illegally

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations Baltimore rep James Covington told FOX 5 that Granados-Trejo is living in the US illegally. According to the outlet, a Justice Department immigration judge in Newark, New Jersey, ordered him to be removed from the country on November 7, 2022. 

But, on March 21, 2023, the Montgomery County Police Department arrested Granados-Trejo and charged him with theft, according to ICE records, cited by FOX 5. The agency lodged an immigration detainer on the suspect with the Montgomery County Detention Center, but it refused to honor it and he was released on March 27, 2023, the outlet reported.

Montgomery County police reportedly arrested Granados-Trejo again on September 26 on charges of theft as well as attempt to obstruct and hindering. CE once again lodged an immigration detainer with the MCDC on September 27 but he was released from custody on October 12, Fox 5 reported. 

The day after his most recent arrest was announced, a third immigration detainer was lodged against Granados-Trejo with the Prince George’s County Detention Center in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, the outlet noted.