Manhattan DA Bragg Details 'Significant' State Charges Against Men Accused Of Shooting CBP Officer

Forbes Breaking News

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg spoke about state charges announced against the two men accused of shooting an off-duty CBP officer.

Transcript

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. Patel from HSI. We conducted this investigation in close collaboration with the

00:30women and men of the NYPD and our federal partners, and I'm extraordinarily grateful

00:36for their collaboration. I also want to thank Chris Prevost, who's the Deputy Chief of our Trial

00:44Division, who's overseeing this investigation. Our ongoing investigation into this incident has led

00:50to charges and an 11-count indictment against two defendants, Miguel Mora and Christian Abar.

00:58Mora, the alleged shooter, is now charged with one count of attempted murder in both the first and

01:04second degrees. Both defendants are also charged with various counts of assault, attempted robbery,

01:10robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon. The indictment is now unsealed. We expect the

01:16defendants will be arraigned shortly, likely during the week of August 18th. We allege that the shooting

01:24of this off-duty officer was part of a violent robbery spree that the defendants planned via text

01:31messages in advance. As we allege, at approximately 11 45 p.m. on July 19th, they rode a motorbike into

01:41Fort Washington Park and robbed a woman of her cell phone. We allege that Mora grabbed and pushed the

01:48victim forcefully. The defendants then continued. They drove north towards George Washington Bridge

01:56and stopped at the red lighthouse at the foot of the bridge. There, they noticed the officer and

02:02another victim who was with him sitting out on the jetty facing the water. Abar turned the moped

02:11around, allegedly to prepare for a quick getaway, while Mora dismounted and crept on the walks towards

02:19them in an attempt, as we allege, to commit a second robbery. When Mora reached them, he pulled out a gun.

02:28In response, the officer pulled out his weapon, Mora fired, and the officer returned fire. The officer was

02:35stuck twice, once in the face and once on the hand and wrist. I want to commend this officer who, while he

02:44was on duty, acted bravely and courageously. Again, this was a robbery spree planned on text message

02:52and was the second. We don't know what would have happened afterwards if he had not acted courageously

02:58and again, off duty. We are incredibly fortunate that the officer survived these serious gunshot wounds and I

03:08am continuing to pray for a full recovery for him from his injuries. After the incident I just described,

03:18defendant Ibar drove defendant Mora to the hospital, where he eventually was arrested.

03:23Ibar 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. I think

03:40this is a good example, first and foremost, of that anyone who engages in this type of alleged violent

03:47conduct in Manhattan will be held accountable. And then secondly, of the collaboration. We work every

03:54day with the women and men of the NYPD and work frequently with our federal partners. And this type of

03:59collaboration, whether it's gun trafficking, whether it's a violent conduct like this, whether it's cyber crime,

04:06our 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

04:22from

04:34you

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