NEW YORK (AP) — A second suspect has been arrested in connection with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in a New York City park, law enforcement officials said Monday.
Christhian Aybar-Berroa is the alleged getaway driver in the apparent robbery-gone-wrong Saturday, according to New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. He is expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan later Monday.
Aybar-Berroa’s alleged accomplice, Miguel Mora, was taken into custody Sunday after arriving at a Bronx hospital with gunshot wounds to the groin and leg.
The 42-year-old customs officer, who was not in uniform, had been sitting with a woman in a park beneath the George Washington Bridge in upper Manhattan when two men approached on a moped, according to police
When he realized he was being robbed, the officer drew his service weapon. He and the suspects fired at each other: The officer was shot in the face and arm while the suspect was shot before he and the moped driver fled, police said.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, in a separate announcement Monday, said the officer, who has not been identified by authorities, is recovering in a hospital and is expected to survive. He works for Customs and Border Protection, whose officers dress in blue and are stationed at airports and land crossings. Border Patrol agents in green uniforms patrol mountains and deserts for illegal crossings.
No lawyers were listed for Aybar-Berroa or Moro on the federal court case database and a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan didn’t immediately comment.
Authorities say both suspects entered the country illegally from the Dominican Republic and have extensive criminal histories in their short time in the U.S.
The police commissioner said Aybar-Berroa arrived in 2022 and he has been arrested eight times for grand larceny and other crimes, and is a suspect in at least four other cases.
The Homeland Security chief said Aybar-Berroa was ordered deported by a federal immigration judge in 2023, but immigration detainers were ignored. She blamed New York City authorities for releasing him before federal officials could take custody of him.
He was “arrested again and again and again,” Noem said. “What did we think was going to happen?”
Moro, she added, has a “rap sheet a mile long” that includes grand larceny, assault and kidnapping charges.
Police said Sunday he entered the country illegally through Arizona in 2023 and had two prior arrests for domestic violence in New York. He is also wanted in New York to face accusations of robbery and felony assault, and in Massachusetts over a stolen weapons case.
“There is absolutely zero reason that someone like this — that’s the scum of the earth — should be running loose on the streets of New York City,” Noem said at a press conference at CBP’s Manhattan office.
Mayor Eric Adams, at a separate press conference, distanced himself from the that Noem and other federal officials on Monday blamed for the shooting.
New York and other cities have longstanding laws and policies that limit or restrict local government involvement in federal immigration matters.
“I’m not protecting them,” said the Democratic mayor, a former police captain who is running for reelection. “I’ve always been clear: stop the revolving door system. Go after the dangerous migrants and asylum seekers.”
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