Outrage is growing across Maryland over how an MS-13 gang member and murder suspect was able to enroll in two public high schools.

Even after Walter Martinez was arrested, parents in Harford and Baltimore counties were not told he was in school with their children.

When the story broke, it sparked outrage.

“The man or woman in charge of this position, the individual, somebody needs to be fired,” Republican State Del. Nino Mangione said on his radio show Tuesday.

During Monday’s Harford County school board meeting, parents expressed their dismay.

“This is beyond comprehension how things have gotten so bad,” Christina Trotta-Pecovic said. “An Edgewood student who also should have never been allowed to walk the halls in our schools, having affiliations with MS-13 gang, killed a young girl.”

Now, Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly is weighing in.

“The entire system is upside down,” Cassilly said. “Nothing can be of higher importance than the safety of the kids sitting in that school. That’s got to be our number one priority.”

In July 2022, the MS-13 gang member killed 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton in Harford County.

After the murder, Aberdeen police quickly identified Martinez as the main suspect. But as police awaited DNA results, Child Protective Services enrolled Martinez in two Maryland public high schools.

First, Lansdowne High School in Baltimore County and then Edgewood in Harford County. And according to the districts, CPS did not alert the schools that Martinez was a gang member and murder suspect.

“It’s absolutely reprehensible,” Cassilly said.

The lack of transparency surrounding this situation is more widespread.

After Martinez was arrested in January 2023, Harford County Public Schools did not alert parents that a student had been charged with murder and rape.

“Parents should have been alerted to talk with your kids, be alert to this. Who was next to this guy?” Cassilly said. “There may be some young woman out there right now, just agonizing, who’s not willing to come forward.”

In a statement, Harford County Public Schools said, “If we are made aware of an arrest for charges that have a potential impact on or uncover a threat to a school community, we would notify that school community. The notification would not include details about a student or their arrest.”

The lack of transparency does not stop there. Martinez also attended Lansdowne High School in Baltimore County. BCPS also did not alert families that Martinez was arrested. District officials said they could not have alerted families because they didn’t know. Apparently, BCPS was never informed that Martinez, who attended Lansdowne just months earlier, was arrested and charged with killing and raping Kayla Hamilton.

Martinez was never convicted of rape but is serving 70 years in prison for killing Kayla Hamilton.

“If a child who’s been in school with everybody else’s kids is arrested, and with those kinds of charges, the people need to know, the other parents,” Cassilly said. “We’ve got to get serious. And the state has got to. The General Assembly needs to convene this fall with hearings. They need to take up legislation in January and really try to fix what I think is a very broken system.”