(UnitedVoice.com) – High-profile crimes committed by immigrants have been in the headlines for months. A migrant killed a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia. A group of immigrants attacked law enforcement officers in New York City’s Times Square. And now, the latest involves two injured police officers and a teenage migrant in Queens.
On Monday, June 3, a suspect shot two New York Police Department (NYPD) officers. The shooting happened after the police officers tried to pull over a man on a scooter who was traveling the wrong way on a one-way street. They were investigating a series of robberies in the area where the suspects were on motorized scooters. There were approximately 80 incidences from January 1 to June 1.
The 19-year-old suspect, Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, ditched the scooter and began running. The officers, Christopher Abreu and Richard Yarusso, gave chase, and the suspect allegedly opened fire. Abreu suffered a shot in the leg, and Yarusso was grazed in his stomach below his bulletproof vest. Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry told the press that Yarusso was more concerned about saving Abreu than he was about himself.
One of the officers managed to shoot the suspect in the ankle. First responders took Castro Mata to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens. According to the NYPD, the gun Castro Mata allegedly used in the shooting was illegal. They recovered it at the scene.
Authorities said the suspect is a Venezuelan migrant without any prior arrests. However, he’s a suspect in several robberies in the city. He reportedly crossed into the US at Eagle Pass, Texas, last year. Since moving to New York, he’s currently living in a migrant shelter.
A man named Muhammad Ali witnessed the crime scene after the shooting. He said he heard “three to four shots, then one shot.” At first, Ali said he thought someone had a firework, but then officers arrived, and he went outside and “saw the crime scene.”
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