NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Two NYPD officers were shot and wounded early Monday morning near LaGuardia Airport in Queens during a shootout with a 19-year-old migrant shelter resident who is suspected in a string of robberies involving mopeds in the borough, officials said.
Both officers were expected to recover from their injuries, NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said from NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, where the two cops were taken in stable condition and later released to cheers from their fellow officers.
One officer was shot in his bulletproof vest, while the other was shot in his leg.
"This could have gone a very different way," Caban said. "It's only by the grace of God we're not talking about a terrible tragedy."
Mayor Eric Adams said he had spoken with the families of the two officers. He said a bulletproof vest likely made all the difference for the one officer.
"Because of this vest, a young police officer's going home," Adams said while holding up the vest at the hospital. "Our officers are putting their lives on the line every day. And if this is not a real symbol of that, I don't know what is."
The two uniformed officers from the 115th Precinct were investigating a robbery pattern in East Elmhurst around 1:40 a.m. when they saw a man illegally operating an unregistered moped the wrong way on 82nd Street, near 23rd Avenue, just south of LaGuardia.
The suspect fled on foot, leading to a pursuit for several blocks. During the foot chase, the suspect fired multiple rounds at the officers, who then returned fire, leading to all three of them being shot, police said.
An illegally possessed gun was recovered at the scene.
The suspect—identified as Bernardo Raul Castro Mata—was shot in the right ankle and hospitalized at New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital in stable condition.
The 19-year-old has no prior arrest in New York City, but he is a suspect in several robbery patterns in Queens. He currently residents at 90-10 Ditmars Blvd., a former Courtyard Marriott Hotel that's now being operated as a migrant shelter called the Landing.
Castro Mata entered the country illegally from Venezuela through Eagle Pass, Texas, in July 2023. He and various accomplices are suspected in phone-snatchings and similar robberies in Queens, officials said, including an incident in which a woman's credit card was stolen and then used at a smoke shop in the borough.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said there has been a dramatic increase citywide in mopeds being used for crimes. "These crimes include shooting, robberies and phone-snatchings," he said.
Kenny said from Jan. 1 to June 1, 2022, there were zero robbery patterns involving mopeds or scooters. During the same period in 2023, there were 20 such robbery patterns. And in those five months in 2024, there have been over 80 robbery patterns—that include hundreds of robberies—in which suspects have used mopeds.
"They operate as a crew, we're looking at [Castro Mata] for several other robbery patterns in the Queens area where he does have other co-defendants," Kenny said.