The jury believed the defendant’s version: “Carlos Acevedo acted in self-defense,” acknowledges their verdict, according to sources from the judicial procedure that has been followed over the past two weeks in the Provincial Court of Madrid and for which there is still no sentence. Acevedo, 45 years old, was accused of attempted homicide and had been in prison since July 11, 2023, when Héctor Manuel Mejía, 33 years old and known as El Leyenda, a feared former leader of the Dominican Don´t Play (DDP) gang, showed up at his house.
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According to his version, which convinced the Prosecutor’s Office and now the jury, El Leyenda, 33, arrived with his son-in-law Stephano, 23, at his home and threatened him if he did not leave and immediately vacate the house, at number 12 Navarra Street in Ciempozuelos (Madrid). A second floor, which at other times had also been illegally occupied by a charismatic former leader of the DDP, raised in the streets of the Villaverde district and settled in the Seseña of El Pocero (Toledo). Acevedo refused to leave his home and — always according to his version — El Leyenda pulled a gun from his fanny pack. Then, there was a struggle among the three that ended with six shots fired. Five hit different heights on the living room walls and one penetrated El Leyenda’s abdomen, bursting his spleen and passing through a lung before the bullet lodged in one of his lumbar vertebrae. The feared gang member, who had a string of arrests for injuries, illicit association, and drug trafficking, was left paraplegic and today lives in a wheelchair while posting videos on his TikTok channel giving advice on how to do it.
Acevedo, who days before the events had reported to the Civil Guard the threats he had received from El Leyenda and his circle to leave what was then his home, surrendered to the police and told his version of what happened. The same from the beginning. The weapon never appeared.
For his part, El Leyenda said in court that the relationship between them was always cordial and friendly due to the neighborhood, as his stepdaughter and son-in-law lived on the ground floor of the same block. He claimed there was a prior agreement for Acevedo to leave the home but that suddenly, on the day set to move, Acevedo had pulled a gun from his bedroom and shot him six times at point-blank range without a word, hitting him only once and leaving him bedridden for life.
For these reasons, El Leyenda attended this trial as a victim and as a defendant for trespassing, illegal possession of weapons, and threats. The jury believed the version of his alleged aggressor, who was immediately released. They even consider proven the illegal possession of weapons, trespassing, and threats. Now it remains to be seen what the judge decides in his sentence, and whether El Leyenda ends up, besides in a wheelchair, in prison.
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