The off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer allegedly shot in the face by an illegal migrant last month suffered “devastating and lasting injuries” that required several surgeries, prosecutors revealed on Wednesday.
The 42-year-old victim underwent a string of operations to repair his face, teeth and tongue after alleged gunman Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, 21, shot him in the jaw during a botched robbery inside Fort Washington Park on July 19, according to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joseph Abrams.
The federal agent – who fired back with his own gun during the confrontation – was also shot in the right wrist, sustaining fractures that also required surgery.
Abrams detailed the victim’s gruesome injuries as Mora Nunez and his accomplice and fellow Dominican Republic national Christhian Aybar-Berroa, 22, were arraigned on their state charges in Manhattan Supreme Court, where dozens of border patrol agents packed the chamber.
“The defendant and his co-defendant have both been charged in connection in the shooting of an off-duty federal agent during the course of an attempted robbery on July 19, during which they inflicted serious and lasting injuries to the victim,” the prosecutor told the court.
“Both defendants have also been charged with another robbery they committed minutes earlier.”
Mora Nunez, an illegal immigrant charged with attempted first- and second-degree murder, appeared virtually from a hospital bed wearing a yellow gown and white sheet as he pleaded not guilty.
Aybar-Berroa, sporting a light brown prison jumpsuit, strolled into court with his head down and pleaded not guilty to robbery, assault and weapons charges through an interpreter.
While the judge set bail at $1, the duo will remain in custody on their federal charges, which will be prosecuted alongside the state’s case for the violent encounter near the red lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge.
Mora Nunez and Aybar-Berro — who each racked up lengthy rap sheets since crossing the US-Mexico border in 2023 and 2022, respectively — had hatched plans to commit robberies in the park over the secure calling and messaging app, according to District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The pair rode a moped into the park around 11:50 p.m. and robbed a woman of her cellphone before they spotted the off-duty agent sitting with another person on a jetty facing the water under the bridge.
Mora Nunez got off the moped and approached the unsuspecting victims from behind while brandishing a firearm. He shot the officer in the face and arm before the unidentified agent pulled out his own firearm and opened fire, striking the gun-toting migrant in the leg and groin, prosecutors said.
The wounded thug scurried back to the moped, where he and his accomplice – who was in the driver’s seat – sped off to a Bronx hospital, where he was unceremoniously dumped outside it by Aybar-Berro.
Mora Nunez was arrested at the hospital and Aybar-Berro was nabbed the next day.
The pair had both illegally crossed the southern border, but were released ahead of immigration hearings. They also were arrested several times by the NYPD, but let free.
The alleged shooter also has two open cases in the Bronx and one in Massachusetts, and is currently being held on an ICE immigration detainer.
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