Two Venezuelan migrants carjacked an off-duty NYPD officer on Friday night, according to a new report.
The incident occurred around 11:30 p.m. at West 146 Street and Bradhurst Avenue in Harlem. One suspect, armed with a fully automatic pistol, approached the officer’s 2020 BMW. They opened the car door, disarmed the officer, and demanded his keys.
The suspects stole the vehicle and fled the scene. However, investigators tracked the car using the officer’s iPad inside. The vehicle was found abandoned less than a mile away.
Police soon located the suspects, who had their firearms drawn. They identified themselves as Jomar Crespo, 21, and Jose Rivera, 20, of Waterbury, Connecticut, despite lacking identification. They bore tattoos linked to a Venezuelan gang.
Police recovered two guns and charged the suspects with robbery, grand theft auto, possession of a machine gun, a loaded firearm, stolen property, rapid-fire modifications, and unlawful possession of an ammo feed device.
This marks the second attack on NYPD officers by Venezuelan migrants this month. On June 3, a suspect shot an NYPD officer in the chest and another in the leg during a moped stop in Queens. The shooter, 19-year-old Bernardo Castro Mata, entered the U.S. illegally through Eagle Pass, Texas, in July 2023, and had been staying at an East Elmhurst migrant shelter. He faces up to 80 years in prison for attempted murder of a police officer.
