WASHINGTON — A 27-year-old man from El Salvador was sentenced Friday to 22 months in prison for illegally possessing and discharging a firearm in Washington, D.C., in 2023, authorities said. Erik Antonio Hernandez Pineda, an alleged affiliate of the 18th Street gang, pleaded guilty in June to possession of a firearm by a noncitizen unlawfully present in the United States. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden.
In addition to the prison term, Hernandez Pineda, also known as “Lucky,” will serve three years of supervised release and faces deportation after completing his sentence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Court documents revealed that Hernandez Pineda illegally purchased a 9mm Springfield XD pistol in January 2023. An FBI investigation into the 18th Street gang linked Hernandez Pineda to the firearm, which was previously used in a shooting on a Washington Metrobus on Jan. 11, 2023. In that incident, two children, ages 6 and 9, were injured after an altercation between two individuals escalated.
Hernandez Pineda was also involved in two shooting incidents in September 2023, where he discharged the firearm near his residence, triggering ShotSpotter alerts. The Metropolitan Police Department recovered shell casings from the scenes, and ballistic analysis linked them to the gun used in the January Metrobus shooting.
At the time of the September incidents, Hernandez Pineda was subject to a domestic violence protective order prohibiting him from possessing a firearm. The FBI arrested him on Dec. 8, 2023, following the recovery of ammunition and his cell phone, which contained evidence of him using the weapon to harass his wife.
