On Wednesday, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D-NY) held a press briefing on the indictment of two suspects involved in the shooting of a Customs and Border Protection officer in Manhattan.
00:00Good afternoon. We are here to announce charges against two defendants for the shooting of an
00:09off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer right here in Manhattan. I'm pleased and privileged
00:17to be joined by the Mayor of the City of New York, the Honorable Eric Adams, and Special Agent in
00:23charge, Ricky J. Mattel from HSI. We conducted this investigation in close collaboration with the women and men of the NYPD and our federal partners, and I'm
00:35extraordinarily grateful for their collaboration. I also want to thank Chris Prevost, who's the Deputy Chief of our Trial Division, who's overseeing this
00:46investigation. Our ongoing investigation into this incident has led to charges and an 11-count indictment.
00:53The defendant has led to charges against two defendants, Miguel Mora and Christian Abar. Mora, the alleged shooter, is now charged with one count of
01:02attempted murder in both the first and second degrees. Both defendants are also charged with various counts of assault, attempted robbery, robbery, and
01:11criminal possession of a weapon. The indictment is now unsealed. We expect the defendants will be arraigned shortly, likely during the week of
01:20August 18th. We allege that the shooting of this off-duty officer was part of a violent robbery spree that the defendants
01:29planned via text messages in advance. As we allege, at approximately 11.45 p.m. on July 19th, they rode a motorbike into Fort Washington Park and robbed a woman of her cell phone. We allege that Mora grabbed and pushed the victim forcefully.
01:47The defendants then continued. They drove north towards George Washington Bridge and stopped at the red lighthouse at the foot of the bridge.
01:54There, they noticed the officer and another victim who was with him sitting out on the jetty facing the water.
02:01Abar turned the moped around, allegedly to prepare for a quick getaway, while Mora dismounted and crept on the walks towards them in an attempt, as we allege, to commit a second robbery.
02:19When Mora reached them, he pulled out a gun. In response, the officer pulled out his weapon, Mora fired, and the officer returned fire. The officer was struck twice, once in the face and once on the hand and wrist. I want to commend this officer who, while he was on duty, acted bravely and courageously, again, in the
02:49case, and this was a robbery spree planned on text message and was the second. We don't know what would have happened afterwards if he had not acted courageously and, again, off duty.
02:59We are incredibly fortunate that the officer survived these serious gunshot wounds, and I am continuing to pray for a full recovery for him from his injuries.
03:14After the incident I just described, defendant Ibar drove defendant Mora to the hospital, where he eventually was arrested.
03:24Ibar was arrested the next day. Mora remains in the hospital and both are in federal custody.
03:33The significant state charges we announced today will run in parallel to the federal charges.
03:39And I think this is a good example, first and foremost, of that anyone who engages in this type of alleged violent conduct in Manhattan will be held accountable.
03:50And then secondly, of the collaboration. We work every day with the women and men of the NYPD and work frequently with our federal partners.
03:58And this type of collaboration, whether it's gun trafficking, whether it's a violent conduct like this, whether it's cyber crime, our collaboration working together helps keep Manhattanites and people of the city of New York safe.
04:13And with that and with my deepest thanks to the NYPD and the city and HSI, we'll hear now from the mayor of the city of New York, Mayor Eric Adams.
04:24Thank you. Thank you so much, DA, and thanks to HSI.
04:28When I visited the Custom Border Patrol officer in the hospital with his family's family members, a member of the FDNY, his parents, no one wants to stand in front of a hospital bed after going through such a horrific act of violence in that place.
04:46Early this morning, I joined the district attorney and the three other district attorneys in the city to talk about the funding that we placed in each one of our district attorney offices.
04:59And just a few moments ago, I left the graduation class of close to a thousand young men and women who have joined the police department.
05:08When you add those two dynamics in our collaboration, this is the results we get.
05:14Quick apprehension, coordinating with our federal partners to go in after dangerous people.
05:21And it should not be lost on all of us that the individuals who are involved were using a scooter.
05:27This has become a tool of violent crimes.
05:32And that's why we removed a hundred thousand more foul streets.
05:35These illegal scooters are being used for quick getaways.
05:39It makes it challenging for police officers to make a apprehension when they are weaving in and out of traffic.
05:46But when you have both proactive and reactive responses, this is how we are bringing down crime and removing these guns off the street.
05:55And as the D.A. pointed out, I think it's significant that they committed a robbery, planned to do another robbery.
06:02And if our Custom Border Patrol officer and his quick response did not take action, we don't know how many more victims we would have had.
06:10The small number of individuals who are repeated criminal offenders and carry out dangerous acts.
06:17And so we want to thank this office for bringing this indictment and bringing these two individuals to justice.
06:25They were dangerous.
06:26They did not care who they were harming on our streets.
06:30And it is imperative that this apprehension was made.
06:34And again, it's the collaboration that you're seeing with our federal partners, the NYPD in this office, that we are continuously bringing dangerous people to justice.
06:45Thank you, District Attorney.
06:46I have to take off to another event, but I want to be here for this.
06:49Thank you very much.
06:51Thank you, District Attorney Bragg and Mayor Adams.
07:05My name is Ricky Patel.
07:06I'm the Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations here in New York.
07:09As you just heard from District Attorney Bragg and Mayor Adams and from our investigative aspect, since shortly after midnight on July 20th, 2025, law enforcement personnel representing state, local, and federal agencies have worked nonstop, literally day and night, searching for answers.
07:27We have poured over voluminous amounts of evidence that investigators have uncovered thus far.
07:33And we will continue to do so.
07:35Today's charges, among others, are attempted murder and first degree assault, to name only a few, which carry strong sentencing guidelines that make it abundantly clear that they will face justice.
07:49Whether knowingly or not, when these perpetrators allegedly targeted one of us, they targeted all of us.
07:56We will leave no stone unturned.
07:58We owe that much to our CBP counterparts and to the law enforcement community at large, as we continue to hope and pray for the speedy recovery of our CBP officer.
08:08Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, I'm limited in what details I can share beyond those that we have already been released and that we are being revealed today.
08:17But what I can share is a promise.
08:19We will not stop until we have captured every individual involved, not only in the attack of this off-duty officer, but those who threaten the safety of our innocent New Yorkers that night and for those that keep targeting and threatening those individuals in New York.
08:34Much like our partners, we do this every day, regardless of who the victim may be.
08:39Without hesitation, we will continue to investigate everyone who jeopardizes public safety and our nation's security.
08:45I'm going to be frank.
08:47These two individuals should not have been in our country.
08:50They should not, and now will not, continue to do harm in our communities.
08:54I would like to thank the strong partnerships with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the Southern District of New York, the New York City Police Department, and Customs and Border Protection for the collaboration and teamwork in bringing these charges today, coupled with the federal charges that we introduced in the past.
09:10I'm sorry, I just couldn't hear it, Molly.
09:24The shooter.
09:25I don't have any, you know, additional information to share on that.
09:39Sorry.
09:40I can't, at this time, go beyond, we can get you some information in the public domain on that.
10:23I don't want to make sure that there was a plan to commit robberies, and so that is, you know, we would submit evidence of the alleged intent as part of the charged crime.
10:42So let the SEC respond to the second half.
10:45Yes, as stated, ongoing investigation, but we're not leaving any stone unturned.
10:49So if there are other culpritators, we are going to be looking into them and seeing if it is more organized or if it was just the two of them.
11:01That's correct.
11:01That's correct.
11:14I'm not going to speculate.
11:16I'll leave it to the federal authorities on that.
11:18I will say, certainly, as an office, you know, we follow, as I'm sure you know and would expect, the law of the city of New York.
11:28And certainly in our experience, in terms of witnesses, we do find we want everyone to come forward and help us solve, you know, violent crimes.
11:37I'm sorry, could you repeat that?
11:38Are you of the opinion that New York status in the sanctuary city would have been in the federal authority to claim it?
11:45I would say that.
11:49I think, as we were obviously commenting, they shouldn't have been in the country.
11:53And if they were deported and or not allowed to be in this country, this tragedy wouldn't have happened, right?
11:59And I think that is one of the things that I will say we work very well collectively with the law enforcement partners in the district attorney's office and with NYPD on criminal investigative matters.
12:11However, these individuals should not have been allowed to be in our country and should have been deported.
12:16They should have been deported and not been in the country.
12:19Like, our...
12:20We're on the part.
12:22Hi, Brad.
12:22I had a question here about what happens again.
12:27And you mentioned that she's a federal ought than you to drive in your country.
12:32I think, um, knowing that it's that there's a fair status of...
12:36And the Southern District that you call this virtually.
12:43So what becomes a priority now?
12:46Obviously, at some point,
12:49.
12:53So what's the first priority now?
12:57Assuming that there is a presentation,
13:00how does that function with the .
13:05Well, I'll speak as to the criminal proceeding,
13:08which I think should always take priority, right?
13:10We have a very serious charge assistant indictment,
13:13including attempted murder.
13:15We will be in court.
13:17I mentioned that I anticipate the arraignment
13:19will be the week of the 18th.
13:21The trial judge will set a schedule,
13:23a motion schedule, trial date,
13:25and our proceeding will go forward on that schedule.
13:30We're going to litigate and adjudicate this matter
13:32as we do violent crimes every day in Manhattan.
13:36With respect to the federal proceeding,
13:38it's not uncommon that we would have parallel charges
13:43and proceedings, and the state and federal trial court
13:48judges will set schedules,
13:49and both cases will proceed according to those schedules.
13:52.
13:57We're going to follow the schedule set by the trial court
13:59and proceed apace as we do in every other matter.
14:01I don't know.
14:13Can you be more specific?
14:18I mean, this is a case, you know, a charge that we charge,
14:23I mean, fortunately, homicides and shootings are down
14:27in Manhattan and citywide,
14:28but attempted murder is, you know,
14:30a charge that we charge, you know, relatively,
14:33it meets the elements of the statute, yes.
14:36And so we'll proceed.
14:37Maybe we can have a sidebar,
14:38because I'm not sure I understand your question.
14:40Yes.
14:42Fortunately, he is, he has been discharged from the hospital.
14:46However, he's a long road ahead of him,
14:48as far as recovery and everything that goes along with it.
14:51In no means is he okay yet.
14:53He's got a long road,
14:54and we're going to continue to pray and hope for his recovery.
14:57All right.
15:18All right, just changing the guard a little bit here.
15:42We are also announcing today the indictments of Autumn Romero
15:47and Kennedy LeCraft in the fatal traffic crash
15:52that happened last month,
15:54which took the lives of two New Yorkers,
15:57May Kwok and Kevin Crookshank.
16:00These two victims were out simply enjoying the city
16:05on a summer morning,
16:07and then their lives ended in a horrific tragedy.
16:12The defendant, Autumn Romero,
16:15the driver of the vehicle,
16:17is charged with two counts of murder in the second degree,
16:20specifically that the defendant's conduct
16:22evince the depraved indifference to human life.
16:25She is also charged with three counts of
16:28aggravated vehicular homicide,
16:30two counts of vehicular manslaughter in the first degree,
16:34as well as other charges.
16:36Kennedy LeCraft, who is the passenger in the vehicle,
16:39is charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon
16:43in the second degree,
16:44criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree,
16:47as well as other charges.
16:49The alleged defense conduct is as followed.
16:52on July 19th,
16:54Romero was intoxicated
16:57and driving a stolen vehicle.
17:00She was driving over 100 miles per hour
17:03on the Manhattan Bridge
17:05with Kennedy LeCraft as a passenger in the car.
17:08At the same time,
17:10Kevin and Cruikshank was riding his bike
17:13on the sidewalk of the Manhattan Bridge
17:16and May Kwok was sitting on a bench
17:18at the intersection of Canal Street and Bowery.
17:26Romero, as I said, was driving over 100 miles per hour
17:29when she drove into Mr. Cruikshank,
17:31who was violently thrown into the air.
17:34She then drove into Ms. Kwok
17:36and then plowed into an NYPD auxiliary van.
17:40While the defendants attempted to flee,
17:41eyewitnesses alerted the police to their whereabouts
17:44and they were subsequently apprehended.
17:46I don't know how else to put it
17:48other than to say this is a deeply disturbing
17:51instance of vehicular violence.
17:52Some of the police were
17:54arrested.
17:55The police were subsequently apprehended.
17:57I don't know how else to put it
17:58other than to say
17:59if we fight over the streets
18:01and that's why we feel like
18:02we have been thankful for
18:03people who are
18:05sick and them from
18:06particular violence.
18:07Safety on our streets
18:09is an essential component
18:10of our public safety generally
18:11and we will hold
18:12at the Manhattan D's office
18:13those accountable
18:14who commit harm
18:16with their vehicles.
18:17Needless to say,
18:18but I will say
18:19if people who are
18:21enjoying our city,
18:22whether it is
18:23riding a bike
18:26or sitting on a public bench
18:28to fear a dangerous driver could end their lives my heart goes out to their
18:34loved ones and we will provide any support they need to our counselors and
18:39advocates here and so I want to thank we heard Chris Pivost who was involved and
18:47help with the the oversight and we also have this matter being specifically
18:52handled by ADA Marine Puparo and ADA Shanda Shrein
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