On the afternoon of September 14, 2022, 19-year-old Hector Manuel Valencia Gomez was shot in the parking lot of a McDonald’s on Peninsula Boulevard in Hempstead, New York, and pronounced dead at the scene. The shooting happened in broad daylight as local schools were dismissing. Police have said Hernandez was targeted, while family and friends believe he was mistakenly identified by his assailants.

Investigators later linked the killing to MS-13 and described it as gang retaliation by a faction called the Fulton clique. In March 2023, 20-year-old Gerson Hernandez was arrested and charged with second-degree gang assault and second-degree murder; authorities said Hernandez was at the scene but did not fire the fatal shots. In September 2023 a then-18-year-old was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, and a warrant was issued for another suspect, Wilson Yanes. Police reported some gang members fled to Maryland and Virginia and were implicated in another homicide.

Does anyone have information about Hector’s movements or who might have seen anything at the McDonald’s that afternoon?