An illegal immigrant from El Salvador was arrested Wednesday after police say he shot a man to death inside a Reston, Va., home—just one day after being released from jail.
Authorities identified the suspect as 23-year-old Marvin Morales-Ortez, who ICE confirmed is in the country illegally, according to ABC7. Fairfax County police launched a manhunt after the shooting, eventually apprehending Morales-Ortez following a search involving drones, K-9 units, and helicopters.
Morales-Ortez had been released from jail Tuesday after prosecutors dropped charges stemming from an alleged gun-brandishing and assault case. By Wednesday, police say, he was back on the street—and allegedly committed a homicide. Fairfax County police later disclosed they had obtained an emergency custody order to detain Morales-Ortez after his release but were unable to locate him before the order expired. Court records indicate that Morales-Ortez had been charged with at least seven crimes in Fairfax County since 2020, ABC7 reported.
The killing comes amid a broader fight in Virginia over whether state and local law enforcement should cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger (D.), who will assume office next month, has said she will rescind Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order requiring state agencies to cooperate with ICE.
Spanberger vowed to block cooperation with ICE, arguing that it “tears families apart,” and diverts law-enforcement resources.
ICE arrests have soared in Virginia during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second administration. ICE made more than 4,000 arrests in the first half of 2025, more than five times the number of arrests in the same time last year, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Youngkin in July announced that the Virginia Homeland Security Task Force, a federal-state partnership established earlier this year, arrested 2,512 “violent criminals who are illegally in the United States,” according to a press release.
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