Dramatic NYPD bodycam footage captures moment two cops were shot by migrant in Queens: ‘Sent chills through my whole body’
NYPD bodycam footage captured the chilling moment two “heroic’’ cops were allegedly shot by a teenage migrant — including when one of the wounded officers frantically told his partner, “I’m shot, I’m shot.”
“We’ve watched the video, the body-camera video, when we were inside of the hospital last night, and [the footage] just sent chills through my whole body,’’ NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said during an interview with WPIX-TV on Tuesday.
Police Officers Richard Yarusso and Christopher Abreu, both 26, were shot by Bernardo Castro Mata, a Venezuelan migrant who was fleeing a stop, in Queens early Monday, authorities have said.
“When Yarusso gets shot in the chest, his partner arrives. His partner gets shot in the leg,’’ Daughtry said, referring to the video.
“They finally were able to get [Mata] into cuffs. And [Yarusso] says, ‘I’m shot I’m shot,’ and [Abreu] goes, ‘Where were you shot?’ ”
Yarusso, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, “goes, ‘In my chest, but I’m OK. I’m OK.’ And he puts a tourniquet on Officer Abreu,’’ Daughtry said.
“Immediately, he’s taken attention off himself after being shot in the chest, and he’s directing his teammates to put the tourniquet on his partner and then telling his other teammates to cuff [Mata].
“That’s heroic,’’ Daughtry said.
Both cops were treated and released from the hospital hours after the shooting. Mata, who was shot in the ankle, remains hospitalized.
The suspect entered the country illegally in Texas in July 2023, then sought asylum, officials said. But his case was dismissed May 6 without a ruling, part of a “mass amnesty’’ program by the Biden administration to allegedly clear a court backlog involving migrants.
The move allowed the undocumented border-crosser to then stay legally in the US and roam around unchecked. He had no known criminal history at the time.
Officers Yarusso and Abreu had tried to stop him when they spotted him driving a moped without plates the wrong way down a street.
Cops later determined that Mata was a person of interest in two violent muggings of women in Queens on May 21 — about two weeks after his asylum case was taken off the books.
Everything to know about the two NYPD officers shot by a migrant
A Venezuelan migrant shot two NYPD officers in a wild chase in Queens early Monday — with one of the injured cops frantically rendering aid to his more badly hurt partner, police and sources said.
The suspect, 19-year-old Bernardo Castro Mata, entered the US illegally last year.
Mata shot Officer Richard Yarusso, 26, in his bullet-proof vest and Officer Christopher Abreu, 26, in the leg as the cops wrestled to get his illicit gun away, authorities said.
Mata is also suspected of helping to attack two women — one of whom was slugged in the face — during a pair of snatch-and-grab robberies days ago, police and sources said.
He was already on the cops’ radar Monday as a person of interest for the robberies — which may be part of a slew of crimes run by crews, including a violent gang in at least one case.
Mata has been living in the migrant shelter located in the former Courtyard Marriott Hotel near LaGuardia Airport in Queens.
Mata was charged with two counts of attemptive murder and additionally, two counts each of assault, criminal possession of a weapon and obstruction of governmental administration.
The case against Mata has already been dismissed, the Post has confirmed.
Police suspect Mata may have become a member of the ruthless Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua while in the US, based on a distinctive tattoo and social media posts, law-enforcement sources told The Post on Tuesday.
The suspect used an illegal Hi-Point .380 handgun in the shooting, police said.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard, who appeared on TV with Daughtry, said, “We got to continue to work with intel and our federal partners to try to find out why are these guns so easily accessible.
“Why are people who haven’t even been in the country that long — why is one of the first things they could find out is where to get a gun in New York City?
“This should be something that’s not happening,’’ Sheppard said.
