Editor's note: The story was changed to show that prosecutors accused Luis Alejandro Menendez-Cordero of issuing threats to witnesses with the help of other fellow MS-13 gang members.

The murder trial of an MS-13 gang member, who was extradited from El Salvador, begins this week — nearly seven years after two young men were shot and killed at a Sparks apartment.

Luis Alejandro Menendez-Cordero, also known as “Apo,” faces two counts of first degree murder with a deadly weapon for the deaths of 19-year-old Kevin Melendez and 21-year-old Moises Vasquez.

The trial is being held at the Washoe County District Court.

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According to court documents, both Melendez and Vasquez were shot with a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol during a party at the Banbridge Apartments in the 1000 block of El Rancho Drive.

Vasquez was shot below his right eye, while Melendez was found with gunshot wounds to his back.

Witnesses told officers with the Sparks Police Department that both Menendez-Cordero and a friend arrived at the party and then later left to smoke cigarettes.

Investigators said they believe Menendez-Cordero later returned with a gun and shot both men. He allegedly turned to shoot another man when the gun failed to fire, and he fled the apartment.

Several people attended the gathering, including members of the local Tijuanitos gang, according to police. The apartment resident told officers she felt everyone was “cool” with each other even though they were all members of different gangs, police said.

Authorities believe Menendez-Cordero fled to Sacramento, Los Angeles and then El Salvador with the help of other MS-13 gang members. He was arrested in 2015.

He is currently housed in a segregated prison unit and is allowed little contact with anyone, including other prisoners, after prosecutors accused him of threatening witnesses.

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State officials said they obtained jail call records and video recordings showing he contacted a fellow gang member in El Salvador.

Prosecutors were forced to take the death penalty off the table before authorities in El Salvador would agree to extradite him to Northern Nevada, Washoe County Deputy District Attorney Kelly Ann Kossow previously told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Menendez-Cordero was initially scheduled for a two-week trial in October 2016. But court records show the trial was delayed a year after the Washoe County Public Defender’s Office switched his representation three times since his indictment.

Check with RGJ for more coverage of the upcoming trial.