Two New York City police officers were shot by a 19-year-old Venezuelan immigrant during a routine traffic stop early Monday morning.
The public safety officers, Officer Christopher Abreu and his partner Richard Yarusso, returned fire, hitting Bernardo Castro Mata in the ankle, the New York Post reported.
Abreu was shot in the leg, while Yarusso took a round to the front of his protective vest.
Advertisement - story continues below
Both officers were treated at Elmhurst General Hospital and were reportedly in stable condition and “good spirits,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said, according to the Post.
His current address was a migrant shelter in East Elmhurst near LaGuardia Airport, which Caban said was a former Courtyard Marriott, the Post reported.
Mata was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens for surgery, according to the outlet.
Is illegal immigration going to be the biggest issue of November's presidential election?
Yes
99% (369 votes)
No
1% (5 votes)
“This could have gone a very different way,” Caban said, referring to the bullet hole in Yarusso’s vest, the Post said.
“Because of this vest, a young police officer is going home,” Mayor Eric Adams said during a news conference early Monday. “A senseless act of violence. A total disregard for life.
Advertisement - story continues below
“Our officers responded with a level of discipline, a level of focus, and a level of professionalism,” Adams added. “Today we thank God.”
Mata, identified by WPIX as Bernardo Raul Castro-Mata, had been driving a scooter the wrong way on a one-way street when the two officers tried to pull him over.
Abandoning the scooter, Mata ran, then turned to fire at the officers with an illegal handgun that was recovered at the scene, the station reported.
While Mata has no prior arrest record in New York City, police believe that he is part of “crew using scooters to commit crimes.”
“We’re looking at him for several other robbery patterns in the Queens area where he does have other co-defendants,” Kenny said at the news conference, according to WPIX.
Advertisement - story continues below
“In one incident, Castro-Mata is suspected of attacking a woman and stealing her credit card, according to the NYPD,” the outlet reported. “The credit card was later used at a Queens smoke shop.”
One of the officers, presumably Yarusso, had been released from the hospital by 8:20 Monday morning, WPMI-TV reported.
Mata also was expected to recover from his gunshot wound, the station noted.
An Important Message from Our Staff:
We who work here at The Western Journal have fought for years against Big Tech and the elites who want to shut us down and then shut America down.
Make no mistake — nothing will be the same after November 2024. Will you help us fight? Will you help us expose the America-hating elites who will do everything they can to steal this election?
We’re a small group of people fighting to save the country for our readers and for our own family and friends. Can we count on your help?
At this point, Big Tech has cut off our access to 90% of advertisers. Imagine if someone took 90% of your paycheck and there was nothing you could do. They’re trying to starve us out.
Donations from readers like you have literally helped keep our lights on, and we need you now more than ever.
We operate on a shoestring budget, but with that budget, we terrify the globalists. Please help us continue the fight. Stand with us, and we will never surrender.
Thank you for reading The Western Journal and for believing in America.
George Upper is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Western Journal and was a weekly co-host of "WJ Live," powered by The Western Journal. He is currently a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. A former U.S. Army special operator, teacher and consultant, he is a lifetime member of the NRA and an active volunteer leader in his church. Born in Foxborough, Massachusetts, he has lived most of his life in central North Carolina.
George Upper, is the former editor-in-chief of The Western Journal and is now a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. He currently serves as the connections pastor at Awestruck Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is a former U.S. Army special operator, teacher, manager and consultant. Born in Massachusetts, he graduated from Foxborough High School before joining the Army and spending most of the next three years at Fort Bragg. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English as well as a Master's in Business Administration, all from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He and his wife life only a short drive from his three children, their spouses and his grandchildren. He is a lifetime member of the NRA and in his spare time he shoots, reads a lot of Lawrence Block and John D. MacDonald, and watches Bruce Campbell movies. He is a fan of individual freedom, Tommy Bahama, fine-point G-2 pens and the Oxford comma.
Internet leftists are furious that some musicians still see their craft as an escape from politics rather than an outlet for it. One of those is Metallica frontman James Hetfield. […]
Shane Gillis, the well-known standup comedian, hosted “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend and went viral when, during the opening monologue, he observed a truth we all know but that […]
Legal expert Jonathan Turley said that laws surrounding immigration fraud mean that Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota could lose her citizenship if she’s found to have committed fraud. Homeland […]
The nation’s largest banks closed accounts and cut off credit to MAGA merchants, pro-life groups, Christian organizations, and other customers over politics and religion between President Donald Trump’s first and […]
A federal judge on Tuesday extended an order that keeps CNN, Politico, and MS NOW inside the White House complex while they fight a ban that President Donald Trump imposed […]
Why wouldn’t you turn control of your home over to a digital giant that buys into every pernicious stereotype about modern home life peddled by the worst elements of the […]
It’s a tale as old as party politics: Democrats saying they’re going to be moderates, then being unable to back it up. Take Eileen Laubacher, who’s running against GOP Rep. […]
It seems rather ridiculous that we need a former aide to Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed to tell us the man is a clear anti-Semite, yet here we are. […]
