A pair of Police officers jumped by a group of immigrant gang members, including a 12-year-old child, while trying to thwart a robbery in Times Square were struck with motorbikes, basketballs, containers and improvised weapons in a “wolfpack”-style invasion, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday.
Authorities are still looking for at least six youths behind the Friday night assault at West 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue. The youth were people of Diablos de la 42, an amalgam of the famous Venezuelan Tren de Aragua city group.
“It’s tragic enough to be a victim of a murder, ” Adams said at a news conference on the wanted defendants Tuesday. “ When one openly assaults a police officer you are attacking our image of health. It cannot be tolerated. ”
The NYPD released photos of three of the suspects also being sought, who appear to be between ages 15 and 20. As of Tuesday, five of the 11 adversaries were in custody, authorities options said. They range in age from 19 to 12.
“This was a planned attack that was carried out with purpose, ” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
“This is certainly a low-level violence. This is organized crime carried out by crew people that we have already taken off the sidewalks for preying on New Yorkers. And then they’re again, killing cops in Times Square. It’s hardly a mistake. It’s a system malfunction. ”
Adams and Tisch credited the NYPD’s questionable group collection in helping police determine five of the defendants who were arrested within four times.
“You can’t battle organized crime with mask on, ” Tisch said as she railed against the City Council’s attempts to remove the databases. “It defies common sense that our city government is looking to dismantle this collection. ”
Advocates for the database’s treatment say it is made up virtually wholly of Black and Hispanic New Yorkers, with labels staying in the database much more than they should.
Cops called Diablos de la 42 a “young land group ” of Tren de Aragua, who have arms, display group indicators and utilize symbols provided from the family staff. The NYPD has identified 37 Diablos de la 42 crew members who are responsible for over 240 arrests, officers said.
The NYPD has done some take-downs of Tren de Aragua and its fragment teams in the last year and taken many weapons used by people off the road but they remain “out there on Friday doing what they did, ” Tisch said.
“We still have more work to do, ” Tisch said.
Two weeks ago, federal authorities announced more than two dozen New York City Tren de Aragua members, all migrants from Venezuela, had been been arrested on federal murder, racketeering, drug and sex trafficking charges.
On Friday, the two cops were protecting three teens from being robbed by a dozen muggers when the gang members were caught on video pelting the officers with numerous objects about 7:30 p. m. , Tisch said.
Neither officer was seriously harmed.
Three of the teen muggers were arrested Saturday. A fourth surrendered to police on Sunday and cops arrested the fifth suspect Tuesday morning.
The oldest suspect is 19-year-old Yeterxon Jose Mijares-Hernandez, a migrant staying at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown. Cops charged Mijares Hernandez with attempted assault, obstruction of government administration, and riot.
Four out of the six teens still being sought have been identified, cops said. All of them have been repeatedly arrested before, Tisch said.
A 17-year-old suspect was also charged with obstructing governmental administration, rioting and menacing. A 16-year-old boy was additionally charged with attempted assault of a police officer and reckless endangerment.
Charges against the 12-year-old and a 14-year-old boy weren’t clear. The 12-year-old boy made headlines last year when he was arrested at age 11 in connection with a string of Central Park cellphone robberies, police sources said.
As cops track down the remaining members, the NYPD is also investigating how a teen gang member was able to smuggle a cellphone into a “juvenile room ” used to hold minor offenders and take selfies of himself and his friends flashing gang signs, Tisch said.
Police said that Tren de Aragua members operate in large groups and surround their victims before mugging them. Many of the suspects are young teens, something advocates tend to zero in on above the rights of the victims, Adams said.
“If you are 15 and decide to stab someone I don’t want to hear people tell me it ’s a young person, ” Adams fumed. “ When you’re a victim of a crime the last thing you’re thinking about is the age of the person. ”
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