2 charged in killing of 19-year-old in Cow Meadow Park in Freeport

Two men were arrested Sunday in connection with the March killing of a 19-year-old in a Freeport park, Nassau police said.

Manuel Aparicio Gomez, 22, of Hempstead has been charged with second-degree murder and first-degree conspiracy. Edgardo Caballero, 18, of Far Rockaway faces a first-degree conspiracy charge. Both men were to be arraigned Monday in Mineola.

The latest arrests came less than two weeks after police arrested Tulio Ayala, 41, of Central Islip, who pleaded not guilty at his April 14 arraignment to second-degree murder and first-degree conspiracy charges.

During the arraignment, Jared Rosenblatt, Homicide Bureau chief of the Nassau district attorney’s office, said Ayala and MS-13 gang members lured Daniel Garcia-Carbajal of Freeport into the village’s Cow Meadow Park on March 1 before fatally shooting him once in the head.

The victim was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound at 5:30 p.m. on March 4 in the park, police said.

Ayala is due back in court on April 30. Online court records did not list an attorney representing him.