NEW YORK — An off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was shot in a Manhattan park on Saturday following an apparent robbery gone wrong, New York City police and federal officials said.
The 42-year-old officer was in stable condition Sunday and expected to survive. There was no indication that he was targeted because of his employment, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
The officer, who was not in uniform, had been sitting with a woman in a park beneath the George Washington Bridge when two men approached on a moped just before midnight. The passenger got off and approached the officer, who realized he was being robbed and drew his service weapon, Tisch said.
The two exchanged gunfire and the off-duty officer was shot in the face and arm. The perpetrator was injured before he and the moped driver rode off, police said.
A person of interest, identified as Miguel Mora, a 21-year-old undocumented immigrant with an extensive criminal past, was taken into custody after arriving at a Bronx hospital with gunshot wounds to the groin and leg, Tisch said. It was unknown if Mora had an attorney.
The police commissioner said Mora’s injuries were consistent with what was seen on surveillance video of the shooting shared by the Department of Homeland Security.
The search for his alleged accomplice continued Sunday.
Mora entered the country illegally through Arizona in 2023 and had two prior arrests for domestic violence in New York. He was wanted in New York to face accusations of robbery and felony assault, and in Massachusetts over a stolen weapons case, Tisch said.
In a social media post Sunday afternoon, President Donald Trump seized on the shooting as evidence of Democrats’ failures to secure the border.
“The CBP Officer bravely fought off his attacker, despite his wounds, demonstrating enormous Skill and Courage,” Trump added.
The shooting comes as federal officials warn of a surge of attacks on agents carrying out Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
As enforcement efforts have ramped up in recent months, many officers have chosen to cover their faces with the goal of avoiding harassment in public and online.
On Sunday, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons, said he would allow agents to continue covering their faces as a safety measure.
“If that’s a tool that the men and women of ICE that keeps themselves and their families safe, then I will allow it,” Lyons said.