Two members of the MS-13 street gang have pleaded guilty to to their roles in a 2018 attack on a man in a Northern Virginia park.
Juan Francisco Rivera-Pineda, 25, and Jefferson Noe Amaya, 24, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria to assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering using a firearm during a crime of violence. They will each face mandatory minimum sentences of at least 10 years when sentenced in April.
The two admitted shooting and stabbing a 40-year-old victim in December 2018 in Four Mile Run Park on the border of Arlington and Alexandria. Gang members had warned the victim's nephew not to sell drugs in the park without paying rent to the gang clique.
The victim survived an attack in which he was shot in the throat and arm and stabbed in the back.
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Prosecutors in Alexandria are also pursuing a separate case against MS-13 gang members accused of killing two teenagers in 2016. One of the 11 individuals charged in that case is facing a potential death penalty.
