In the late hours of a spring evening in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the life of 28-year-old Gregorio Hernandez was tragically cut short. On May 18, 2014, while sitting on a porch on Hale Street, gunfire erupted, striking Hernandez. He was not the intended target of the violence that unfolded that night. Two other men who were with him on the porch were also wounded in the shooting.
Emergency services rushed to the scene, and Hernandez was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Despite the efforts of medical staff, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 1:08 a.m. The two other victims sustained non-life-threatening injuries; one was treated at the hospital and released, while the other declined medical treatment for a wound to his finger.
The investigation into the shooting was handled by the New Brunswick Police Department and the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.
Several months later, in December 2014, authorities announced the arrest of 23-year-old Rolando Martinez Sanchez, who was charged with murder and weapons offenses. The investigation continued, leading to the indictment of two other New Brunswick men, Manuel Mendez, 23, and Renee Herrera, 30, in October 2015.
The grand jury handed up a 23-count indictment against the three men, which included charges of murder, aggravated manslaughter, conspiracy to commit murder, and aggravated assault. Investigators determined that Sanchez was the one who opened fire on a group of men on Hale Street, and Hernandez was an unintended victim of the attack. Bail for Sanchez and Herrera was set at $1 million, while Mendez's bail was set at $750,000.
