Two members of MS-13’s Hempstead Locos Salvatruchas (HLS) gang were each sentenced to 12 years in prison for attacking six victims with knives and a machete at a soccer field in Hempstead in October 2024 and two victims in the parking lot of a Uniondale laundromat with white pipes and a machete in December 2024.
On October 20, 2024, at approximately 4:25 p.m., Pedro Martinez Velasquez, Kelvin Martinez, and several indicted co-conspirators attacked six victims with knives and a machete as the victims were playing soccer in broad daylight at Kennedy Memorial Park in Hempstead.
On the day of the incident, surveillance video showed Velasquez and Martinez hopping over the fence surrounding the soccer field and approaching the victims.
Velasquez and Martinez then began to kick and punch the victims.
Martinez removed a knife from his pants pocket and stabbed a victim in the chest.
Velasquez used a machete to strike another victim in the left forearm.
Among the injuries sustained by all six victims, who range in age from 20 to 51 years old, one victim was stabbed in his left shoulder, another victim was stabbed in his rib cage, requiring the removal of his gallbladder and repair to his diaphragm and liver, and another victim was struck by the machete in his left forearm, causing a deep laceration.
Velasquez and Martinez fled after the attack, entered another co-conspirator’s vehicle, and drove away from the scene.
A court-authorized search warrant of the getaway vehicle uncovered a knife with an eagle-shaped handle with the letters “MS” etched into it.
On December 18, 2024, at approximately 8:48 p.m., Velasquez, Martinez, and other indicted co-conspirators attacked two victims with white pipes and a machete as the victims were parked outside the Super Laundromat in Uniondale.
Martinez is seen on video kicking another victim in the chest as he attempted to run and holding that victim while another MS-13 gang member swung and struck the victim with a machete multiple times.
The attackers identified themselves as MS-13 gang members and stated they were going to kill victims.
One victim was struck with a machete multiple times and suffered a deep laceration to his left forearm and multiple cuts to his back. Another victim was struck with a white pipe and suffered a deep laceration to his forehead and multiple cuts to his body.
Both defendants were located a few blocks away from the scene of the incident within approximately 15 minutes of the commission of the crime and placed under arrest.
Velasquez and Martinez, both 19, pleaded guilty on February 24, 2026, before Judge Joy Watson to Conspiracy in the Second Degree (a Class B felony); Attempted Murder in the Second Degree (a Class B violent felony); and Assault in the Second Degree (a Class D violent felony).
On April 30, Velasquez and Martinez were each sentenced to 12 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision.
“My office has worked for years to eradicate MS-13 violence from our communities, taking out top leadership and putting gang members behind bars,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said. “Today, two more members of the Hempstead Locos Salvatruchas will join them in prison for participating in a series of brutal knife and machete attacks in public spaces that seriously injured eight people. We will never allow MS-13 to take hold of our communities. Working with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to stamp out this vicious gang and protect Nassau County residents.”