A 19-year-old Venezuelan migrant, identified as Bernardo Castro Mata, shot two NYPD officers early Monday while riding a motorized scooter. The officers, Christopher Abreu and Richard Yarusso, both 26, tried to stop Mata for driving the wrong way at 89th Street and 23rd Avenue in Elmhurst around 1:40 a.m., police reported. Mata abandoned the scooter and fled on foot, pulling out an illegal gun and firing multiple rounds at the officers during the chase.
Officer Abreu was hit in the leg, while Yarusso was struck in the front of his bulletproof vest. One of the officers returned fire, injuring Mata in the ankle. Yarusso, concerned about his partner, immediately applied a tourniquet to Abreu’s leg to stop the bleeding, according to Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry.
Mata, who has no prior criminal history in New York City but is a suspect in several robbery investigations in Queens, including an assault where a woman’s credit cards were stolen, has been living at a migrant shelter in the former Courtyard Marriott Hotel near LaGuardia Airport, said NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban. He entered the US via Eagle Pass, Texas, in July last year and was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens for surgery.
The two officers, treated at Elmhurst General Hospital, were in good spirits. They received a guard of honor and applause as they left the hospital on Monday morning. NYPD Commissioner Caban highlighted the officers’ discipline and professionalism, emphasizing the fortunate outcome. Mayor Eric Adams praised the officers, showing the bullet hole in one vest, and condemned the senseless act of violence, thanking God for the officers’ safety.
Abreu, with five years on the force, and Yarusso, with two and a half years of service, are both assigned to the 115th Precinct’s public safety unit.
