Both men are illegal immigrants who entered the country within the past four and a half years.
The second suspect in the Manhattan Park, New York, shooting of an off-duty Border Patrol agent has been apprehended.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said in a July 21 press conference that he was detained earlier in the day and that she hopes he will “face full consequences.”
According to a post from DHS on X, Cristian Aybar Berroa, an alleged illegal alien from the Dominican Republic, was arrested in connection with the July 19 shooting. Berroa was subject to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer.
The officer, 42, who was injured but is in stable condition, was not in uniform at the time of the attack, and there is no indication that the incident was connected to his employment, officials said.
The officer and another person were approached in a park by two men on a moped sometime around midnight beneath the George Washington Bridge, according to New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
The passenger approached the officer, who drew his service weapon and exchanged gunfire with the two men. The officer was shot in the face and arm, according to Tisch, and at least one of the attackers was also injured in the exchange before they retreated on the moped.
Miguel Mora, 21, an illegal immigrant, was taken into custody after he arrived at a Bronx hospital with gunshot wounds to his leg and groin.
Diane Sabatino, acting executive assistant commissioner from the Office of Field Operations, said the attackers “picked the wrong guy … to try to rob.”
Noem said that both men had entered the country illegally sometime during the Biden administration.
Mora has an extensive criminal history and came into the United States through Arizona. DHS posted a video of the attack on X and said that Mora was a Dominican Republic national who was previously deported from the United States and had reentered in 2023.
He had prior arrests for domestic violence in New York and is wanted for robbery and felony assault, also in New York. In Massachusetts, he is also wanted in connection with a stolen weapons case.
The attack came just a few weeks after a man was killed and several law enforcement officers were injured during a shootout at a Border Patrol station in Texas.
Ryan Louis Mosqueda of Michigan was shot and killed by agents on July 7 after he fired dozens of rounds at the entrance of the station in McAllen, Texas, in the early morning hours.
One McAllen police officer was shot, and a Border Patrol employee was also injured.
Joseph Lord contributed to this report.
If you found this article interesting, please consider supporting traditional journalism
Our first edition was published 25 years ago from a basement in Atlanta. Today, The Epoch Times brings fact-based, award-winning journalism to millions of Americans.
Our journalists have been threatened, arrested, and assaulted, but our commitment to independent journalism has never wavered. This year marks our 25th year of independent reporting, free from corporate and political influence.
That’s why you’re invited to a limited-time introductory offer — just $1 per week — so you can join millions already celebrating independent news.
