Crime and Public Safety | Migrant who shot NYPD cops says that’s ‘common…

News Crime and Public Safety

Migrant who shot NYPD cops says that’s ‘common practice’ back in Venezuela:
prosecutors

Bernardo Castro Mata, center, is pictured during his arraignment at Queens Supreme Criminal Court on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Shawn Inglima for New York
Daily News)

By Sheetal Banchariya and Thomas Tracy | ttracy@nydailynews.com | New York Daily News
PUBLISHED: June 26, 2024 at 3:58 p.m. | UPDATED: June 26, 2024 at 8:10 p.m.

Loading your audio article

A migrant accused of shooting and wounding two NYPD cops in Queens told authorities firing at
police was “common practice” back home in Venezuela — although he claimed he didn’t mean to open
fire, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, who prosecutors say shot the officers after being caught zipping the
wrong way down a one-way Queens street on a scooter back on June 3, admitted to authorities he is a

member of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

While he said it wasn’t a big deal for gang members and police in his native country to swap shots, he
claims his gun just “went off” when Officers Richard Yarusso and Christopher Abreu tried to stop him
on 82nd St. near 23rd Ave. in East Elmhurst, prosecutors said.

“My friend Jose might have given me a bag with a gun in it and asked me to keep it for him,” the 20-
ear-old Castro Mata, a delivery man for Door Dash, told investigators. “I knew there was a gun in the
bag. When the cops stopped me, I ran because I was scared. I stopped and took out the gun to show
the officer, and the round went off.”

“I did not pull the trigger,” he added. “The gun was ready when my friend gave it to me. The gun went
off once.”

Bernardo Castro Mata during his arraignment in Queens Supreme Criminal Court Wednesday. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily
News)

Castro Mata’s claims were recounted in Queens Supreme Criminal Court Wednesday, where he was
arraigned on a 20-count indictment of attempted murder and other charges. If found guilty, he could
spend the next 80 years in prison.

Judge Kenneth Holder ordered Castro Mata held without bail at the close of the proceeding. More
than 100 cops sat in the gallery as the charges were read, all glaring at Castro Mata, who sat quietly in
a wheelchair.

When cops approached Castro Mata, the migrant pulled the gun from a crossbody bag and shot one
cop in the stomach and the other in the upper right thigh Queens Assistant District Attorney Lauren
,

Reilly said.

The officers fired back, striking Castro Mata in the ankle. He only dropped the gun after he had been
wounded Reilly said.

The scene of the shooting at 89th St. and 23rd Ave. in Queens. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)

When he was being questioned at the hospital, Castro Mata said he had come to the United States
through Eagle Pass, Texas. He lived in a shelter in Queens as Tren de Aragua recruited him to do
robberies, he said.

“It’scommon practice for Tren de Aragua gang members to shoot at police because Venezuelan police
officers shoot at gang members for minor infractions,” Castro Mata told NYPD investigators,
according to prosecutors. “Venezuelan police officers get shot often in my home country because
criminals feel there is a chance of getting away.”

Gang members get tattoos of the number 23 and sports stars to show their “loyalty to the gang,” he
said. Tren de Aragua is the largest criminal organization in Venezuela with over 5,000 members. ,

Members have been linked to human trafficking, extortion, drug crimes and murder.

“Tren de Aragua members smuggle firearms into city shelters inside food delivery packages,” Castro
Mato told authorities. “That way they don’t have to go through the metal detector.”

NYPD Officer Richard Yarusso, who was shot in the chest and saved by his vest, wheels his partner, Officer Christopher Abreu,
who was shot in the leg, out of Elmhurst Hospital Center early June 3. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News)

Officers Yarusso and Abreu were investigating a robbery pattern involving crooks on mopeds and
scooters when they spotted Castro Mata, prosecutors said.

“These police officers were just doing a traffic stop,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said at
the courthouse Wednesday. “[Castro Mata] was driving up the wrong way on a one-way street. He did
not have a helmet. It is one of the dangers of unregistered scooters – if they had not caught him, there
would be no way to find him.”

“An attempt on the lives of two police officers simply making a traffic stop should offend every New
Yorker,” Katz added.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz observes the arraignment of Bernardo Castro Mata at Queens Supreme Criminal Court
on Wednesday. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)

Speaking outside court, Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry called Castro Mata
“a dangerous individual [who] wasn’t afraid to shoot at New York City police officers because he
thought he was going to get away with it.”

“Not in this country,” Hendry added. “We need anyone who attacks a police officer prosecuted to the
fullest extent, and then they need to be deported.”

More in Crime and Public Safety

Ride-share driver succumbs to Woman randomly beaten with bat Duo charged after women and teen Staffers at Crossroads Brooklyn
wounds after apparent robbery in terrifying caught-on-video were kidnapped, with two raped in detention center smuggled in
gone wrong, cops say attack in Lower Manhattan Pennsylvania weapons and drugs: feds

2024 June 26

Tribune Publishing Company Info Subscriber Services

Chicago Tribune About Us Archives
The Morning Call Careers
The Daily Press Help Center
The Virginian Pilot Manage Web Notifications
Orlando Sentinel Place an ad
Sun-Sentinel Media Kit
Hartford Courant Privacy Policy
Studio 1847 Site Map

Subscriber Terms and Conditions Cookie Policy Cookie Preferences California Notice at Collection CA Notice of Financial Incentive Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
Copyright © 2024 New York Daily News