New York City, July 22, 2025 – At approximately 11:50 P.M. on the night of Saturday, the 19th of July, an off-duty Border Patrol agent was sitting on the rocks on the water’s edge of Fort Washington Park in New York City when two, now identified males approached the off-duty officer, who was accompanied by a woman, in an attempted armed robbery.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, which has issued a retainer for the two assailants residing in the U.S. illegally, the off-duty agent retrieved his own firearm, shooting one of the suspects in self-defense. The officer was wounded in the process, suffering gunshot wounds to the forearm and cheek.
The two assailants who were captured on surveillance camera, traveling through the park by scooter when one of the suspects got off and approached the pair with his firearm drawn. The woman who was with the off-duty officer later stated that she believed it to be an attempted robbery. The suspect with the firearm, who was also shot, was later dropped off at the nearby Bronx Hospital by his accomplice.
The suspect who received medical care as a result of gunshot wounds from the victim was identified as Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, a 21-year-old Dominican national who entered the U.S. illegally via the Southern border under the Biden administration, according to DHS. Mora had been arrested for multiple criminal offenses in New York City, including “allegedly assaulting a pregnant woman and threatening to kill another migrant with a machete”, according to the New York Post, and was later released despite a deportation order being issued in 2024 after Mora failed to appear at an immigration hearing.
The second suspect was later apprehended a couple of days later and was identified as Cristian Aybar Berroa, “a criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic, who illegally entered the United States on June 19, 2022, and was released into the country on interim parole pending his immigration hearing, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Berroa also had a long criminal rap sheet that included:
- On May 10, 2023, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrested Berroa for 2nd degree reckless endangerment.
- On March 26, 2024, NYPD arrested Berroa for 4th degree felony grand larceny and petit larceny.
- On April 5, 2024, NYPD arrested him 4th degree felony grand larceny and petit larceny. Despite an active ICE detainer, the New York City Department of Corrections released Berroa back onto NYC streets.
- On February 20, 2025, NYPD arrested Berroa for 2nd degree reckless endangerment, reckless driving, and for driving without a license.
- On June 12, 2025, Berroa pled guilty to petit larceny at the Bronx County Supreme Court. This plea was made in consolidation of all his previous arrests, and he was conditionally discharged and allowed to roam the streets of NYC.
A judge ordered Berroa a final order of removal on January 3, 2023 (according to a DHS Press Release). However, that order was ignored by authorities in New York City.
New York City is a sanctuary city for illegal aliens and does not comply with ICE detainer holds. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, said federal charges are expected in the case.
At a press conference yesterday, Secretary of Homeland Security and Border Czar Tom Homan strongly condemned sanctuary policies and urged mayors and city councils across the nation to get on board with the administration’s deportation campaign, reasserting that federal immigration operations will continue to be conducted in jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with ICE agents to remove undocumented public safety threats.
The victim in this weekend’s attack is currently in stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery.
