Transcript: Mayor Adams Joins da Bragg to Provide Update on Indictment of Individuals Who Shot Federal Agent

August 6, 2025

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg: Good afternoon. We are here to announce charges against two defendants for the shooting of an off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer right here in Manhattan. I'm pleased and privileged to be joined by the mayor of the City of New York, the Honorable Eric Adams, and special agent in charge, Ricky J. Patel from HSI.  

We conducted this investigation in close collaboration with the women and men of the NYPD and our federal partners, and I'm extraordinarily grateful for their collaboration. I also want to thank Chris Prevost, who's the deputy chief of our trial division, who's overseeing this investigation.  

Our ongoing investigation into this incident has led to charges and an 11-count indictment against two defendants, Miguel Mora and Christian Aybar. Mora, the alleged shooter, is now charged with one count of attempted murder in both the first and second degrees. Both defendants are also charged with various counts of assault, attempted robbery, robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon. The indictment is now unsealed. We expect the defendants will be arraigned shortly, likely during the week of August 18th.  

We allege that the shooting of this off-duty officer was part of a violent robbery spree that the defendants planned via text messages in advance. As we allege, at approximately 11:45 p.m. on July 19th, they rode a motorbike into Fort Washington Park and robbed a woman of her cell phone. We allege that Mora grabbed and pushed the victim forcefully.  

The defendants then continued. They drove north towards George Washington Bridge and stopped at the red lighthouse at the foot of the bridge. There, they noticed the off-duty officer and another victim who was with him, sitting out on a jetty facing the water. Aybar turned the moped around, allegedly to prepare for a quick getaway, while Mora dismounted and crept on the walks towards them in an attempt, as we allege, to commit a second robbery.  

When Mora reached them, he pulled out a gun. In response, the officer pulled out his weapon, Mora fired, and the officer returned fire. The officer was stuck twice, once in the face and once on the hand and wrist. I want to commend this officer who, while he was [off] duty, acted bravely and courageously. Again, this was a robbery. It was pre-planned on text message and was the second. We don't know what would have happened afterwards if he had not acted courageously and again, off-duty.  

We are incredibly fortunate that the officer survived these serious gunshot wounds, and I am continuing to pray for a full recovery for him from his injuries. After the incident I just described, defendant Aybar drove defendant Mora to the hospital, where he eventually was arrested. Aybar was arrested the next day. Mora remains in the hospital and both are in federal custody.  

The significant state charges we announced today will run in parallel to the federal charges. I think this is a good example, first and foremost, of that anyone who engages in this type of alleged violent conduct in Manhattan will be held accountable. And then secondly, of the collaboration. We work every day with the women and men of the NYPD and work frequently with our federal partners in this type of collaboration, whether it's gun trafficking, whether it's a violent conduct like this, whether it's cybercrime, our collaboration working together helps keep Manhattanites and people of the City of New York safe.  

And with that, and with my deepest thanks to the NYPD and the city and HSI, we'll hear now from the mayor of the City of New York, Mayor Eric Adams. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much, DA, and thanks to HSI. When I visited the Customs and Border patrol officer in the hospital with his family, his family members, a member of the FDNY, his parents. No one wants to stand in front of a hospital bed after going through such a horrific act of violence in that place.  

Early this morning, I joined the district attorney and the three other district attorneys in the city to talk about the funding that we placed in each one of our district attorney offices. And just a few moments ago, I left the graduation class of close to a thousand young men and women who have joined the Police Department.  

When you add those two dynamics in our collaboration, this is the result we get. Quick apprehension, coordinating with our federal partners to go in after dangerous people. And it should not be lost on all of us that the individuals who are involved were using a scooter. This has become a tool of violent crimes, and that's why we removed 100,000 off our streets.  

These illegal scooters are being used for quick getaways. It makes it challenging for police officers to make an apprehension when they are weaving in and out of traffic. But when you have both proactive and reactive responses, this is how we are bringing down crime and removing these guns off the street.  

And as the D.A. pointed out, I think it's significant that they committed a robbery, planned to do another robbery. And if our Customs and Border patrol officer and his quick response did not take action, we don't know how many more victims we would have had. The small number of individuals who are repeated criminal offenders and carry out dangerous acts.  

And so, we want to thank this office for bringing this indictment and bringing these two individuals to justice. They were dangerous. They did not care who they were harming on our streets. And it is imperative that this apprehension was made.  

Again, this is a collaboration that you're seeing with our federal partners, the NYPD and this office, that we are continuously bringing dangerous people to justice. Thank you, district attorney. I have to take off to another event, but I want to be here for this. Thank you very much.  

Ricky Patel, Special Agent, Homeland Security Investigations: Thank you, District Attorney Bragg and Mayor Adams. My name is Ricky Patel. I'm the special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations here in New York. As you just heard from District Attorney Bragg and Mayor Adams and from our investigative aspect, since shortly after midnight on July 20th, 2025, law enforcement personnel representing state, local and federal agencies have worked nonstop, literally day and night, searching for answers. We have poured over voluminous amounts of evidence that investigators have uncovered thus far, and we will continue to do so.  

Today's charges, among others, are attempted murder and first-degree assault, to name only a few, which carry strong sentencing guidelines that make it abundantly clear that they will face justice. Whether knowingly or not, when these perpetrators allegedly targeted one of us, they targeted all of us. We will leave no stone unturned. We owe that much to our CBP counterparts and to the law enforcement community at large, as we continue to hope and pray for the speedy recovery of our CBP officer.  

Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, I'm limited in what details I can share beyond those that we have already been released and that we are being revealed today. But what I can share is a promise. We will not stop until we have captured every individual involved, not only in the attack of this off-duty officer, but those who threatened the safety of our innocent New Yorkers that night, and for those that keep targeting and threatening those individuals in New York. Much like our partners, we do this every day, regardless of who the victim may be. Without hesitation, we will continue to investigate everyone who jeopardizes public safety and our nation's security.  

I'm going to be frank. These two individuals should not have been in our country. They should not, and now will not, continue to do harm in our communities. I would like to thank the strong partnerships with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the Southern District of New York, the New York City Police Department, and Customs and Border Protection for the collaboration and teamwork in bringing these charges today, coupled with the federal charges that we introduced in the past. Thank you. 

Question: [Inaudible.] 

District Attorney Bragg: I'm sorry, I just couldn't hear.  

Question: [Inaudible.] 

District Attorney Bragg: The shooter? Okay, I don't have any additional information to share on that. Sorry.  

Question: [Inaudible.] 

District Attorney Bragg: I can't at this time go beyond, we can get you some information, which is in the public domain on that.  

Question: [Inaudible.] 

District Attorney Bragg: Sure, I'll start, and I don't want to overstate it, but what was, there was text messages that there was a plan to go commit robberies. And so that is, you know, we would submit evidence of the alleged intent as part of the charged crimes. 

Patel: Yes, as stated, ongoing investigation, but we're not leaving any stone unturned. So if there are other perpetrators, we are going to be looking into them and seeing if it is more organized or if it was just the two of them.  

Question: [Inaudible.] 

Patel: That's correct.  

Question: [Inaudible.] 

District Attorney Bragg: I'm not going to speculate. I'll leave it to the federal authorities on that. I will say certainly as an office, you know, we, we follow, as I'm sure, you know, and would expect the law of the City of New York. And certainly in our experience, we, in terms of witnesses, we do find– we want everyone to come forward and help us solve, you know, violent crimes.  

Question: [Inaudible.] 

Patel: I'm sorry, could you repeat that? 

Question: [Inaudible.] 

Patel: I would say that I think as, as we were obviously commenting, they shouldn't have been in the country. And if they were deported and or not allowed to be in this country, this tragedy wouldn't have happened, right?  

And I think that is one of the things that I will say, we work very well collectively with the law enforcement partners and the district attorney's office and with NYPD on criminal investigative matters. However, these individuals should not have been allowed to be in our country and should have been deported. They should have been deported and not been– 

Question: [Inaudible.] 

District Attorney Bragg: Well, I'll speak as to the criminal proceeding, which I think should always take priority, right? We have very serious charges. This is an indictment, including attempted murder. You know, we will be in court. I mentioned that I anticipate the arraignment will be the week of the 18th. The trial judge will set a schedule, a motion schedule, trial date and our proceeding will go forward on that schedule. We're going to litigate and adjudicate this matter as we do, you know, violent crimes every day in Manhattan.  

With respect to the federal proceeding, you know, it's not uncommon that we would have parallel charges and proceedings and, you know, the state and federal trial court judges will set schedules and both cases will proceed according to those schedules.  

Question: [Inaudible.] 

District Attorney Bragg: We're going to follow the schedule set by the trial court and proceed to pace as we do in every other matter.  

Question: [Inaudible.] 

District Attorney Bragg: I don't– can you be more specific?  

Question: [Inaudible.] 

District Attorney Bragg: It was, I mean, this is a charge that we charge, I mean, fortunately, homicides and shootings are down in Manhattan and citywide, but attempted murder is, you know, a charge that we charge, you know, relatively– it meets the elements of the statute, yes. And so we'll proceed. I mean, we can have a sidebar cause I'm not sure I understand your question. 

Question: [Inaudible.] 

Patel: Yes. Fortunately he has been discharged from the hospital. However, he [has] a long road ahead of him, as far as recovery and everything that goes along with it, in no means is he okay, yet. He is, he's got a long road and we're going to continue to pray and hope for his recovery. 

District Attorney Bragg: Alright, just changing the guard a little bit here. We are also announcing today the indictments of Autumn Romero and Kennedy Lecraft in the fatal traffic crash that happened last month, which took the lives of two New Yorkers, May Kwok and Kevin Cruickshank.  

These two victims were out simply enjoying the city on a summer morning, and then their lives ended in a horrific tragedy. The defendant, Autumn Romero, the driver of the vehicle, is charged with two counts of murder in the second degree. Specifically, that the defendant's conduct evinced a depraved indifference to human life. She is also charged with three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, two counts of vehicular manslaughter in the first degree, as well as other charges.  

Kennedy Lecraft, who was the passenger in the vehicle, is charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second decree, criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree, as well as other charges.  

The alleged offense conduct is as follows. On July 19th, Romero was intoxicated and driving a stolen vehicle. She was driving over 100 miles per hour on the Manhattan Bridge with Kennedy Lecraft as a passenger in the car. At the same time, Kevin Cruickshank was riding his bike on the sidewalk of the Manhattan Bridge, and May Kwok was sitting on a bench at the intersection of Canal Street and Bowery.  

Romero, as I said, was driving over 100 miles per hour when she drove into Mr. Cruickshank, who was violently thrown into the air. She then drove into Ms. Kwok, and then plowed into an NYPD auxiliary van. While the defendants attempted to flee, eyewitnesses alerted the police to their whereabouts, and they were subsequently apprehended.  

I don't know how else to put it, other than to say this is a deeply disturbing instance of vehicular violence. Safety on our streets is an essential component of our public safety generally, and we will hold at the Manhattan DA's office those accountable who commit harm with their vehicles.  

Needless to say, but I will say it, people who are enjoying our city, whether it is riding a bike or sitting on a public bench on a nice Saturday morning, should not have to fear a dangerous driver could end their lives. My heart goes out to their loved ones, and we will provide any support they need through our counselors and advocates here.  

And so, I want to thank– we heard Chris Prevost, who was involved and helped with the oversight. And we also have this matter being specifically handled by ADA Maureen Paparo and ADA Shanda Strain.  

Question: [Inaudible.] 

District Attorney Bragg: The investigation is very much ongoing. Thank you. 

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