On Friday night, two armed suspects, believed to be Venezuelan migrants, carjacked an off-duty New York Police Department (NYPD) officer in Harlem. According to a report, one of the suspects was armed with a fully automatic pistol. This is the second time this month that NYPD officers have been attacked by migrants from Venezuela.
The incident occurred around 11:30 p.m. at West 146th Street and Bradhurst Avenue. The officer was sitting in his personal 2020 BMW when the suspects, who had tattoos believed to be associated with a Venezuelan gang, approached him with their weapons drawn. One of the perpetrators knocked the officer’s gun out of his hand and demanded his keys. The pair then fled the scene in the officer’s vehicle.
The NYPD was able to track down the suspects and recover the stolen car with the help of an iPad found in the vehicle. The suspects, identified as Jomar Crespo, 21, and Jose Rivera, 20, were arrested and charged with various crimes, including robbery, grand larceny auto, possession of a machine gun, and more.
Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal gang that originated in a Venezuelan prison, has slowly made its way south and north in recent years. Officials say it’s now operating in the United States. The scale of its operations is unknown, but crimes attributed to alleged members of the gang have worried elected officials. Some Republican members of Congress have asked the Biden administration “to formally designate the vicious Tren de Aragua as a Transnational Criminal Organization.”
There is growing concern about how many members of Tren de Aragua are in New York City. The presence of this gang raises alarms about the safety and security of residents, prompting calls for increased vigilance and law enforcement efforts to address the potential threat.