Venezuelan migrant shoots two NYPD cops after they tried pulling him over on illegal scooter

A teenage Venezuelan migrant has been arrested for allegedly shooting two young NYPD cops after they tried to pull him over while he was riding a scooter. 

Police approached Bernardo Raul Castro-Mata, 19, as he drove the unregistered motorbike the wrong way down a one-way highway in Queens overnight. 

He allegedly responded by opening fire on the officers using an unlicensed gun before fleeing on foot at around 1.40am, NYPD said. One officer was struck in the leg while the other sustained a shot to their bulletproof vest.

Former President Donald Trump seized on the incident to blast 'out of control Biden Migrant Crime' which he said is 'ravaging America' in a furious post on Truth Social.  

Although Castro-Mata has not previously been arrested in New York City, police believe he is part of a group which has been using mopeds and scooters to commit violent robberies around the Big Apple. 

'We're looking at him for several other robbery patterns in the Queens area where he does have other co-defendants,' NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said during a briefing Monday morning. 

In one incident, he is accused of attacking a woman and stealing her credit card, which was later used at a Queens smoke shop, according to NYPD records. 

Castro-Mata entered the US illegally in July last year via Eagle Pass, Texas, Kenny said. He has been staying at a migrant shelter in Ditmars Boulevard, close to the area where the shooting happened. 

The teenager was also shot in the ankle during the altercation with officers at 89th Street and 23rd Avenue in Elmhurst, and he underwent surgery on Monday morning at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens.

NYPD said officers chased him for 'several blocks' after he discarded the scooter and it was at this point that he shot at them. The unlicensed gun he allegedly used was recovered at the scene.

Photographs show Castro-Mata looking shell-shocked as medics took him into an ambulance on a stretcher with his arms handcuffed behind his back. 

Another image shows three officers carrying him away by his arms and legs as he grimaces. The discarded scooter can also been seen amid carnage at the scene. 

The NYPD officers involved in the shootout were filmed leaving Elmhurst Hospital in the daylight several hours later. Police said they were 'young officers' who had been working for the department for two and five years respectively. 

Onlookers gave them a standing ovation as one was pushed out in a wheelchair before hopping into a police van, while the other walked out and shook hands with colleagues. 

New York Mayor Eric Adams condemned the shooting as 'a senseless act of violence, a total disregard for life' and praised the officers for acting with 'professionalism and focus'. 

Kenny said there has been an explosion in New York City robberies by criminals riding motorbikes and motorized scooters since 2023. 

'Between January 1 and June 1 2022, there were zero robbery patterns involving motorized scooters or motorcycles,' the NYPD Chief of Detectives said.

'The same time period 2023, 20 robbery patterns. 

'This year so far, over 80 robbery patterns citywide. That's over 80 patterns alone encompassing hundreds and hundreds of incidents.'

Donald Trump took to Truth Social to blame President Joe Biden and DA Alvin Bragg for the incident. 

'Biden Migrant Crime is out of control and is ravaging America!' Trump wrote.

'Last night, two brave NYPD officers doing their job were shot by a Monster Illegal Immigrant who came here illegally from Venezuela last year and was living in a tax-payer funded migrant shelter. 

'Crooked Joe Biden has trafficked in the worst people from around the world, many with heinous criminal records, and unleashed them into our communities. 

'Soros-funded DA Alvin Bragg should focus on keeping the streets of New York safe, but has instead wasted time and money engaging in a ridiculous political witch-hunt against yours truly. 

'We must focus on finishing the wall, securing our border, and keeping our streets safe. MAGA 2024!'

A recent bombshell report indicated that 350,000 migrants who entered the U.S. illegally have had their immigration court cases dismissed, allowing them to go free without a verdict on the merits of their entry.

A top Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) adviser, Kerry Doyle, circulated a memo in 2022 instructing prosecutors to dismiss cases for migrants who are not found to be national security threats, the New York Post first reported. 

As a result, that year nearly 103,000 migrants had their cases dismissed - allowing them to walk free into the U.S. without an immigration court judge's verdict on the merits of their asylum claim. 

Later in 2023, that number of dismissed cases skyrocketed to 149,000. 

So far in fiscal year 2024, 114,00 cases have been terminated without a verdict, according to the report. 

Under Biden's leadership, a whopping 77 percent of migrants who claim asylum have been allowed to stay in the U.S., according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a non-profit that scours immigration court filings.