The second illegal migrant arrested over the shooting of an off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer was free despite a series of arrests — and is also a suspect in a scooter robbery ring tied to nearly 30 snatch-and-grabs, sources said.
Christhian Aybar-Berroa, 22, was nabbed by ICE agents Monday following the arrest of fellow Dominican Republic national Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, 21, for allegedly ambushing the agent and his female companion in Manhattan’s Fort Washington Park.
Mora Nunez is accused of shooting the 42-year-old officer — who fired back with his own gun during the confrontation Saturday — while Aybar-Berroa allegedly helped with the robbery, officials said.
“It’s a case that we will continue to work — that he was a part of this robbery on Saturday night — and hopefully he will face consequences for being a part of that,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a fiery news conference in Harlem Monday.
The arrest was far from Aybar-Berroa’s first brush with the US justice system — which, like Mora Nunez, has treated him with an arguably light touch.
Aybar-Berroa entered the country illegally in 2022 during the Biden administration and was released on parole ahead of his immigration hearing, Noem said.
He then made it to New York City, where he was cuffed five times by NYPD after a federal immigration judge ordered his deportation in January 2023 — and was released each time, sources said.
All of Aybar-Berroa’s arrests were related to a spate of scooter robberies that plagued New York City during the migrant crisis, the sources said.
But none of the charges he faced were bail eligible under the state’s controversial 2019 bail reform law, allowing him to be released after each arrest.
Sources said Aybar-Berroa has allegedly been linked to a robbery pattern of 28 snatch-and-runs total, mostly in the Bronx.
One arrest in April 2024 came after police said Aybar-Berroa snatched phones from the hands of four young women – all with a 10-minute span – while riding a moped in the Bronx, according to sources.
The five arrests eventually were consolidated into a single case, for which Aybar-Berroa pleaded guilty to petit larceny in June, authorities said.
But Aybar-Berroa was conditionally discharged and roamed the streets until Monday, when ICE agents tracked him down after questioning Mora Nunez’s relatives, sources said.
Mora Nunez, who was wounded when the CBP agent returned fire during the alleged botched robbery, was cuffed when he showed up at a Bronx hospital afterward, authorities said.
He and Aybar-Berroa were suspected of working together in the moped-riding robberies, including Saturday shortly before midnight during the ambush on the off-duty fed and his lady friend, sources said.
Footage released by Homeland Security allegedly showed Mora Nunez hopping off the moped and approaching the agent before opening fire – striking the victim in the face and left forearm.
The shooter then reeled back when the officer returned fire, the video showed.
Mora Nunez also racked up several arrests in New York City and elsewhere in the US before the shooting, but his alleged crimes — unlike Aybar-Berroa’s — appeared more violent.
He was nabbed twice days apart in August 2024 for allegedly assaulting a pregnant woman and threatening to kill another migrant with a machete.
Mora Nunez also was wanted on kidnapping and weapons charges out of Massachusetts related to a pawn shop robbery, sources have said.
— Additional reporting by David DeTurris and Emily Crane
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