Virginia prison guards injured in 'premeditated' attack by MS-13 members, officials say

USA Today

04-05-2025

Virginia prison guards injured in 'premeditated' attack by MS-13 members, officials say
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Trump administration deports 17 to El Salvador CECOT prison
The Trump administration sent 17 alleged Tren de Aragua and MS-13 members to El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison.
Five guards were injured in an apparent "premeditated" attack by inmates affiliated with the MS-13 and Sureño 13 gangs at a Virginia prison, state corrections officials said.
The attack occurred at about 9:45 a.m. on May 2 at the Wallens Ridge State Prison, a super-maximum security prison located in Big Stone Gap, a remote town in southwest Virginia, according to the state Department of Corrections. Five guards were injured in the incident, including three who were stabbed, and were transported for outside medical treatment.
Three officers, including two who suffered minor injuries while responding to the attack, were released from the hospital on the day of the attack, the agency said in a news release provided to USA TODAY. The remaining two guards were hospitalized in stable condition.
The agency described the incident as a "premeditated stabbing" targeting three corrections officers. Six of the inmates involved in the attack had all been convicted of violent crimes including aggravated murder, first and second degree murder, and rape, according to the agency.
The agency said five of the six inmates were "confirmed MS-13 gang members from El Salvador," who were in the United States unlawfully. The other inmate involved in the attack was a U.S. citizen and confirmed member of the Sureño 13 gang.
"Five of the individuals responsible for this senseless attack should never have been in this country in the first place," Virginia Department of Corrections Director Chad Dotson said in a statement. "Every single day, our officers put their lives on the line to ensure public safety for the more than 8.8 million people across the Commonwealth. This attack is an example of the dangers they face when they show up to work every day."
State corrections officials did not provide additional details on the incident, citing the ongoing investigation.
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What is MS-13?
La Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is a gang that originated in Los Angeles and has more than 10,000 members in the United States, according to a 2017 fact sheet released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The street gang has been functioning in the U.S. since at least the 1980s and is mainly composed of immigrants from El Salvador, the fact sheet added. Its presence has rapidly grown in Central America, El Salvador, Mexico, and the United States following members' deportations.
Between 50,000 and 70,000 MS-13 members are "concentrated in urban areas in Central America or locations outside this region with a large Central American diaspora," according to a 2018 report published in the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) virtual library. Though the gang primarily operates in urban areas, the report stated that it has spread into more rural areas, such as Long Island and North Carolina.
"MS-13 has the features of a social organization more than a criminal organization, in that it is more interested in creating a menacing collective identity than in generating crime-based revenue," the report states. "It is a diffuse organization of sub-parts, without a single leader or leadership structure that manages gang life and activities."
According to the report, "violent behavior" is at the core of MS-13's actions. In 2012, federal authorities designated MS-13 as a transnational criminal organization.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation identifies transnational criminal organizations as groups that operate across national borders and engage in illegal activities for profit, including drug trafficking, migrant smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering, firearms trafficking, extortion, cybercrime, and creating and selling counterfeit goods.
MS-13 has made national headlines in recent months amid the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, in which federal officials have repeatedly identified detainees as gang leaders or even terrorists.
In March, the FBI raided the home of a 24-year-old Salvadoran man living illegally in Virginia, and officials alleged that the man was one of the top three U.S. leaders of MS-13, calling him a terrorist. The Department of Justice later moved to drop the only charge it had brought against him, a gun charge, but still seeks to deport him.
Despite studies showing that immigrants do not commit crime at a higher rate than those born in the U.S., President Donald Trump has frequently linked illegal immigration and crime, according to Reuters. The Trump administration has stepped up enforcement against transnational gangs, designating Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and six Mexican cartels as terrorist groups.
Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse and Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY; Reuters