Shooting gun conviction for Illegal Alien

An illegal alien has been convicted guilty by a federal jury in East Saint Louis. The illegal alien Gustavo Alvarez-Gomez, 23, has been convicted of unlawfully possessing a firearm after a three-day trial. The convicted is a native of El Salvador. According to the evidence presented, the trial established that on Feb.25, 2019, Gomez and a companion, Jordy Sanchez-Andrade had driven from St. Louis, Missouri.

They went to Pleasant Ridge Park in Fairview Heights, Illinois, so that they could shoot a handgun and smoke marijuana. Both men had entered the wooded hiking trails and fired off shots from a 9mm pistol. The Fairview Heights Police Department had responded quickly as a concerned citizen had called the police.

The police had arrested both men and recovered the pistol from which the shots were fired. Both men had entered the United States illegally according to the investigation carried out by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It is illegal, according to federal law, for unlawful aliens to possess a gun.

U.S. Attorney Steve Weinhoeft said, “Our illegal immigration enforcement efforts prioritize identifying and aggressively prosecuting those who enter the United States illegally and commit other crimes.” Weinhoeft continued, “It is beyond reckless to handle firearms while using drugs, but this crime is so much more offensive because these two individuals chose to do so at three o’clock in the afternoon, in a public park that was occupied by a mother and her two young children, ages 1 and 4.”

Fairview Heights Police Department, Department of Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives carried out the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Alexandria Burns tried the case.