2 Men Federally Charged In NYC Shooting Of Border Patrol Officer

NEW YORK CITY — Two men accused of shooting an off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in Upper Manhattan last weekend are now facing federal charges, prosecutors announced.

Miguel Mora Nunez, 21, and Christhian Aybar-Berroa, 22 were both arrested after the off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was shot in the face and arm.

Nunez has been charged with one count of possession of ammunition by an illegal alien. The 21-year-old faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Aybar-Berroa has been charged with accessory after the fact, that has a maximum sentence of seven-and-a-half years.

The officer, 42, was sitting with a friend at Riverside Park in Washington Heights just before midnight on July 19 when two men rode up on a scooter, Jessica Tisch, the police commissioner, said

One of the suspects approached the officer and drew a gun with the intent to rob him, Tisch said. The robber fired first, and then the officer fired back at him, Tisch said.

The officer was taken to a local hospital and is in stable condition.

According to police, Aybar-Berroa dropped Mora Nunez off at a hospital in the Bronx before he fled on a moped.

Nunez, an immigrant, who entered the country illegally in 2023, has been arrested twice before for domestic violence, officials said, and is a suspect in a 2024 robbery and a 2025 stabbing, both in the Bronx, officials said.

There is also a warrant out for his arrest in Massachusetts, where he robbed a pawn shop, officials said.

"Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez is, and has, a rap sheet that is a mile long," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at a press conference on Monday.

The next court appearance for the two suspects has yet to be determined.

An investigation remains ongoing.