'One-Man Crime Wave' Indicted In Queens, BK Shootings: Feds

QUEENS, NY — A Queens gang member was behind a violent "one-man crime wave" that riddled street corners in two boroughs with bullets and left a man shot in a single August day, prosecutors said.

Abel Mora, 22, was arrested Tuesday on a weapons charge detailed in an indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court, authorities said.

Court filings accuse Mora, whom prosecutors said is a member of the Trinitarios street gang, of carrying out two shootings Aug. 13 in Queens and Brooklyn that put the lives innocent bystanders and children at risk.

"As alleged, this defendant was a one-man crime wave, who engaged in a broad daylight gunfight in Queens, then robbed and shot someone in Brooklyn later that same day," said United States Attorney Breon Peace, in a statement.

A fistfight between two men outside a grocery near Mora's Far Rockaway home, where he lives with his mother, prompted the first shooting about 1:05 p.m., prosecutors said.

One man ran toward the house afterward, where he apparently gathered up Mora, who ran back to the store and shot at the second person, according to court documents.

"Notably, this shot was fired so close to a group of adults and children that the adults fled into a store, momentarily leaving two small children behind on the street where the defendant was pursuing the fleeing vehicle," documents state. "A wheelchair-bound man was also trapped within feet of the shooting."

Mora ran down the street and again saw the car, at which he fired eight more shots, documents state. A person in the car shot off two bullets at Mora, according to a court filing.

And Mora's wave of violence didn't end there, prosecutors said.

About eight hours later, Mora pulled a gun on a backpack-wearing man outside an East New York convenience store, documents state.

He racked the gun's slide, chambering a round of ammunition and pointed the gun in the man's face, according to documents.

"The defendant then attempted to remove the Victim’s backpack, but the Victim resisted and the two struggled until the Victim fell to the ground," documents state. "During the violent struggle, the defendant pointed the firearm in every direction, without any apparent regard for the safety of civilians, including children, standing in his immediate vicinity."

Mora shot at the man twice during the struggle, hitting him once in the left arm, prosecutors said. The man was taken to a nearby hospital while police found two shell casings and video surveillance footage that ultimately both were linked to Mora, documents state.

In a motion, prosecutors asked a judge to hold Mora without bail ahead of trial, citing a 2020 case in which he shot three people and ultimately pleaded to felony assault.