An off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer was shot in the face by an immigrant who entered the country illegally and wounded during a botched robbery in an upper Manhattan park late Saturday, cops said.
“This shooting is a clear example of everything that’s broken in our criminal justice system,” Mayor Adams said at a Sunday press conference.
“One, the perpetrator or the person of interest that we have in custody has been known to have repeated violent interactions,” he said. “The second is the proliferation of guns. Thirdly, the violent immigrating asylum-seekers who are bringing violence and really tarnish the reputation of those who come to this country legally to pursue the American Dream.”
The officer was sitting in Fort Washington Park by W. 178th St. when two robbers pulled up on a moped Saturday night around 11:50 p.m., cops said.
Video released on the Homeland Security Department’s X.com page shows the suspects approach the victim as he’s sitting on a rock with a woman near the waterfront. A man in a white shirt gets off the back of the moped and approaches the officer, gun in hand. After a brief fight, he fires a shot and appears to duck out of view by a bush while the officer aims his own weapon.
Cops said the officer returned fire, striking one of the fleeing robbers, who later arrived at a nearby hospital, police sources said.
Medics took the 42-year-old officer to Harlem Hospital in stable condition.
DHS
Homeland Security officials identified the suspect as Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez. (DHS)
Homeland Security Department officials identified the suspect as Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, 21, a citizen of the Dominican Republic with a lengthy rap sheet who’s in the country illegally.
“RE ENTERED and RELEASED under Biden— on April 4, 2023 the United States Border Patrol apprehended him at/near San Luis, AZ,” reads a post on Homeland Security’s X.com page.
Police sources said he’s also wanted on a warrant in Massachusetts in a kidnapping and weapons possession case, was arrested in the Bronx on Oct. 1, 2024, on a felony assault charge, and is wanted for a robbery and a stabbing in New York.
”In one year he has inflicted violence in our city, and once he is charged for last night’s crimes he will be able to add attempted murder to his rap sheet,” Adams said at the press conference, which he attended with Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Frank Russo, acting director of the New York field office for ICE.
Officials attended the press conference after visiting the injured officer at the hospital, where they said he is recovering nicely.
Five minutes before attempting to rob the ICE officer, authorities believe Mora and his accomplice robbed a woman of her phone, who then called 911 to report the incident. After the shootout, the officer’s companion also called 911.
“The location in the park where the incident occurred is one where an ambulance would not be able to get to quickly, and NYPD was very quick to escort our officer to the hospital to help save his life,” Russo said.
DHS
Video released bn the Department of Homeland Security shows the suspects fleeing on a moped after the shooting. (DHS)
Authorities believe the crime was one of opportunity.
“At this time, we have no indication that the officer was targeted for his occupation,” Tisch said. “Detectives have not yet recovered the perpetrator’s firearm, but we did recover discharged shell casings … at the scene, which is now being processed for DNA evidence.”
Mora was apprehended after walking into a hospital with gunshot wounds to the leg and groin, consistent with where the suspect appears to be hit in CCTV footage of the crime recovered by police officers, Tisch said.
“This individual has two prior arrests for domestic violence in New York, and he has an active warrant after not showing up to a court date on one of those cases,” Tisch said.
He is also suspected in the robbery of a pawnshop in which guns were stolen, according to Tisch.
“Let’s make something incredibly clear today, our officer is a hero,” Russo said. “He did exactly what we ask of all of our officers under the circumstances. He executed our mission, which is to protect the country, and he did it by stopping a threat. If not for his efforts, this person of interest would have committed more armed problems.”
The second suspect remains at large.
The officer was sitting in Fort Washington Park by W. 178th St. when a pair of robbers pulled up on a moped at about 11:50 a.m. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Originally Published: July 20, 2025 at 4:44 PM EDT
