On a summer evening, the tranquility of a park in Uniondale was shattered by an act of brutal violence. Just before 9 p.m. on July 19, 2022, police officers arrived at the park to find 21-year-old Walter Ochoa Jr. of Uniondale mortally wounded. The young man had been shot and was pronounced dead at the scene by a paramedic. An investigation would soon reveal the calculated and ruthless nature of his death, which involved not only a gunshot wound to the chest but also being slashed in the neck
and stabbed in the abdomen.
The investigation into Ochoa's murder pointed toward the notorious MS-13 gang. Prosecutors alleged that Ochoa was targeted because he was suspected of being a member of a rival street gang. His killing was also described as a retaliatory act for the murder of an MS-13 member that had occurred just eleven days earlier, a death the gang blamed on the rival 18th Street gang. On that fateful evening, Ochoa was in Uniondale Park with another person when they were cornered by three armed MS-13 members. Following the attack, the assailants fled the scene.
A break in the case came with the arrest of Gerson Hernandez, a Hempstead man who was 20 years old at the time. He faced second-degree murder charges in connection with the slaying. According to the Nassau County District Attorney, Hernandez, along with two unapprehended co-defendants, surrounded Ochoa before one of them shot him in the chest. It is alleged that Hernandez and the other assailant then slashed and stabbed the victim. Subsequently, a sweeping 17-count federal superseding indictment brought charges against multiple alleged members of MS-13 for a series of violent crimes, including the murder of Walter Ochoa.
In addition to Gerson Hernandez, the federal indictment named Henry Aquino-Hernandez, Jose Omar Yanes-Romero, William Lainez-Duran, and Elvin Eulises Vasquez-Lopez as participants in Ochoa's murder. Lainez-Duran is accused of driving the attackers to the park, while another man, Henry Canales, was charged with being an accessory after the fact for allegedly helping the suspects flee. The extensive indictment covers multiple racketeering offenses, including murder, attempted murder, and drug trafficking, with prosecutors stating that the proceeds from drug sales were used to finance the gang's criminal operations. The defendants charged in the murder of Walter Ochoa Jr. face the possibility of life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.
