Man gets 24 years for 1997 double murder inside DC restaurant
DC Police
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A man convicted of shooting and killing two people inside a D.C. restaurant nearly 30 years ago has been sentenced to 24 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.
What we know:
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said the shooting happened in the early morning hours of Aug. 9, 1997, at what was then Las Rocas restaurant in the 2400 block of 18th Street NW.
Prosecutors said the defendant and several friends were on the second floor of the restaurant when a group of young men entered and a fight broke out shortly before 2 a.m.
According to the government’s evidence, the defendant pulled out a revolver and fired several times.
Two men were killed.
Victims identified
Prosecutors identified the victims as Jose Roberto Molina and Jose Noel Coreas.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Molina was a father of two. Coreas was celebrating his 22nd birthday when he was killed.
Man sentenced
Prosecutors identified the defendant as Oscar Diaz Romero, also known as Oscar Alonzo Salguero, 47, of El Salvador.
He was found guilty on March 25 of two counts of second-degree murder.
Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman sentenced him to 24 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised probation.
"Nearly thirty years after fleeing justice, Oscar Diaz Romero’s day of reckoning has come," U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in a statement. "Let this be clear: if you commit murder in our community and attempt to escape accountability, my office will never rest until you are brought to justice."
Fled to El Salvador
Prosecutors said Diaz Romero fled to El Salvador after the shooting.
He was arrested there in 2024 and extradited to the United States in January 2025.
He has remained in custody since his extradition, according to prosecutors.
The Source: This article was written using information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Metropolitan Police Department.