Man Found Guilty In Double Murder Of Germantown Students

ROCKVILLE, MD — The first of four suspects on trial for the murders of two Germantown high school seniors was found guilty by a Montgomery County judge Thursday.

Jose Canales-Yanez, 25, of Gaithersburg was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder.

The two Northwest High School students — Shadi Adi Najjar, 17, and Artem S. Ziberov, 18 — were gunned down while sitting in a car in Montgomery Village June 5, one night before they were set to graduate from Northwest High School, police said.

Police said Canales-Yanez planned to kill Najjar after he stole drugs and an iPad from Canales-Yanez's wife seven months earlier in Deember 2016. Najjar also allegedly hit the woman with his car, ABC 7 reports.

On the night of June 5, Najjar and Ziberov drove to Montgomery Village to sell a graduation ticket to someone. Prosecutors said the students were set up, and instead were met by Canales-Yanez and the three other suspects.

Capt. Darren Francke said one of the victims was shot ten times, and the other was shot four times. The other rounds hit their vehicle and also went into the air in the neighborhood in the 8200 block of Galley Court. Najjar was found behind the wheel of a blue Honda Civic with the lights on and the engine running, while Ziberov was in the passenger seat.

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Francke confirmed that the audio recording of the shooting, given to police by a neighbor on Galley Court, was authentic.

The other suspects are: Rony Alexander Galicia, 25, of Germantown; Edgar Garcia-Gaona, 24, of Gaithersburg and his brother, Roger Garcia, 19, of Germantown.

Najjar and Ziberov were both honor roll students, ABC 7 says. Najjar was planning to study computer science or medicine at Montgomery College, while Ziberov was going to study International Business at the University of Maryland.

Canales-Yanez’s sentencing is scheduled for March 28. He is currently being held without bond at the Montgomery County Detention Center.

Photo of Canales-Yanez via Montgomery County Police