NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – The NYPD on Wednesday released photos of two additional suspects wanted in connection with the assault of NYPD officers in Times Square last month.
According to an NYPD release, six men have already been arrested in connection to the assault.
Those initially arrested in the attack included Yorman Reveron, 24, of Brooklyn; Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, of Mississippi; Wilson Juarez, 21, of Queens; Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19, of Brooklyn; Yohenry Brito, 24, of Manhattan; and Jhoan Boada, 22, described as unhoused.
While the men were released, they'd face additional charges if they don't return to their next scheduled court appearances in the city in a few weeks.
Officials have said they were staying in the city's migrants shelters at the time of the Times Square incident.
The photos' release comes the same day that the Manhattan District Attorney's Office countered the Department of Homeland Security's erroneous statement on Tuesday that ICE had taken into custody 4 men on a Phoenix-bound Greyhound bus "believed to be fleeing the state of New York from their suspected involvement in a coordinated assault on multiple NYPD officers."
Chaotic video from the night of Jan. 27 shows a group of men ganging up on two NYPD cops who were trying to disperse the "disorderly group" outside the shelter at 220 West 42nd St., police said.
The two officers—a lieutenant and a cop from the Midtown South Precinct—were pummeled and stomped on, video shows. They suffered minor injuries, including cuts to their face, and were treated at the scene.
Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg declined to prosecute a seventh man—a 21-year-old from Queens—saying it was unclear "whether the person arrested was even involved."
As many as eight additional men are still being sought in the attack, officials have said. Bragg said Saturday that video suggests "some of the most culpable individuals have not yet been identified or arrested."
Meanwhile, Bragg and his team were set to present new evidence and charges Tuesday to a grand jury in the case. It's unclear how long the presentation will last or what the new evidence is; it may be additional video.
The attack on officers has touched off a political furor, with the NYPD commissioner warning "a wave of migrant crime has washed over our city," while immigrant advocates accused officials of playing into "the same old Trumpian fear mongering."
Gov. Kathy Hochul suggested last week that those arrested in the attack should face deportation. "Get them all and send them back," the governor said Thursday. "We don't touch our police officers. We don't touch anybody."
Describing the Times Square incident as "an attack on the foundation of our symbol of safety," Mayor Eric Adams on Monday called on the City Council to consider "if there should be more collaboration" with federal immigration officials.
Since 2014, the NYPD and city jails have been barred from holding people in custody on behalf of federal immigration authorities unless they have been convicted of certain violent crimes and a judge has issued a warrant for their removal.