DA: Denis Gutierrez-Marcos, alleged MS-13 member, pleads guilty to murder charges in Hempstead shootings
Nassau County District Attorney Anne T, Donnelly appears at the David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence in Garden City last year. Credit: Barry Sloan
An alleged MS-13 gang member has pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in connection with two Hempstead shootings in 2020, prosecutors said.
Denis Gutierrez-Marcos, 20, pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He is expected to be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison at this next court appearance on March 23, prosecutors said.
“Denis Gutierrez-Marcos, an alleged MS-13 gang member, showed complete disregard for human life when he shot four men in two separate incidents in September and October 2020,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said in a statement Friday. “The defendant took one man’s life and injured three others because the victims allegedly disrespected MS-13. We are working around the clock with our law enforcement partners to neutralize this gang, which has terrorized our communities through fear and intimidation.”
Gutierrez-Marcos’ attorney did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The fatal shooting occurred just before 4 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2020, when Gutierrez-Marcos allegedly shot a passenger of the taxi that he was also riding in near High Street in Hempstead, prosecutors said.
The victim, who was struck in the shoulder, fell backward and Gutierrez-Marcos told the driver to leave the scene, prosecutors said. Edwin Guerrero Hernandez, a friend of the shooting victim who was sitting outside a High Street address and witnesses the shooting, chased the taxi and attempted to open the front passenger door, prosecutors said.
Gutierrez-Marcos again fired through the taxi’s open widow, fatally shooting Hernandez, who was taken to Nassau University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, prosecutors said.
More than a month later, on Oct. 23 at about 10 p.m., Gutierrez-Marcos was a passenger in another vehicle when he fired a gun into a group of people standing outside on Jackson Street in Hempstead, prosecutors said. One victim was struck in the arm while another was struck in the stomach, prosecutors said. Both victims survived the attack.
Gutierrez-Marcos fled the scene, but was later arrested in June 2021, prosecutors said.
Gutierrez-Marcos is being prosecuted by Daryl Levy, the deputy chief of the Homicide Bureau.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
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