Thirteen members of the Salvadorians with Pride street gang were charged in a 49-count indictment for their alleged involvement in a string of stabbings and shootings in Hempstead this year, prosecutors said.
The suspects were charged with conspiracy, second-degree attempted murder, assault, robbery, weapons possession and other charges. The suspects include Wilmer “Scrappy” Sandoval Jimmy “Jim Jones” Bonilla, Ariel “Droopy” Mejia and Edwin “Steel” Gomez, among others.
“Gang violence can terrorize a neighborhood,” said Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas. “Law enforcement, community leaders and parents must continue to work together to prevent young people from joining these destructive groups that ruin so many promising young lives.”
Nassau County police and prosecutors said the suspects coordinated violence against members of rival gangs—including Vatos Locos, MS-13 and Latin Pride—as well as non-gang members from May through last month.
The attacks in May included a hitting a victim in the head with a hammer, a drive-by shooting and shooting a robbery victim with a BB gun, authorities said. The next month, SWP members dragged a rival gang member out of his car and stabbed him 25 times, according to investigators. And in August, a suspect who has yet to be apprehended shot at rival gang members in a car, prosecutors said.
Eight of the suspects face up to 25 years to life in prison, if convicted.
