(OurNationNews.com) An illegal immigrant from Venezuela who shot two New York Police Department officers from a point-blank range faces indictment on 20 charges.
Bernardo Raul Castro Mata made shocking revelations during his court hearing as he claimed that the shelters housing illegal immigrants often receive guns from gang members.
According to the audio recordings that were played in the court, Mata was a member of Venezuela’s largest criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, and used to deliver food to an illegal immigrant shelter with weapons hidden inside.
Stashing firearms in food allows the gang members to avoid going through metal detectors that could have caught them otherwise.
The charges are related to his June 3 crimes when two police officers tried to stop him as he was driving an unregistered motorbike the wrong way without wearing a helmet.
As the police tried to handcuff Mata, he pulled a weapon from his bag and shot at the chest of officer Richard Yarusso, who managed to survive the attack due to his protective vest.
He then turned the gun toward the second officer, Christopher Abreu, and shot him on his thigh. Abreu immediately fired back at Mata on his ankle and took him into custody.
Queens’s District Attorney, Melinda Katz, noted that every New Yorker should be enraged over the shooting of two police officers who only tried to stop the suspect for traffic violence.
Mata now faces 20 charges, including first-degree attempted murder, assaulting police officers, second-degree assault, and hindering the government’s administrative functions, among others.
Meanwhile, Mata pleaded not guilty to the charges, claiming that the gun did not belong to him and that he accidentally fired it. He also stated that he was afraid of the police officers, and that is why he tried to flee the scene. In Venezuela, Mata continued, firing on police officers is normal practice, as law enforcement resorts to violent tactics even on small offenses.
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