An off-duty, 42-year-old, male U.S. Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) agent who was in Riverside Park in Upper Manhattan with a 40-year-old female companion on Saturday night, July 19, was shot shortly before midnight by a 21-year-old man who is wanted for a robbery and stabbing which took place in The Bronx, police said.

 

Officials said they have no indication that the agent in question, shot in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan, was targeted for his employment. However, because of heightened tensions and controversies in recent months over the detaining of some immigrants by federal authorities, coupled with ongoing ICE raids which some Democrats feel are an overreach, particularly when they involve masked, unidentifiable federal agents, this latest incident will no doubt cause more head-butting over immigration policy in Congress.

 

As reported, federal prosecutors previously hit various New York politicians, but not the mayor with a lawsuit over alleged ICE raid tip offs, alleging such tip offs place federal agents in harm’s way.

 

Police said Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, the alleged shooter, exchanged gunfire with the CBP agent after the second of two attempted robberies in the area went awry and he was also struck with a bullet. Mora Nunez later left the scene with his accomplice on a scooter and was later arrested when a person fitting his description was found to have entered a Bronx hospital injured.

 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams held a press conference at NYC Health + Hospitals Harlem along with Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Director Francis J. Russo of U.S. Custom and Border Protection, NYPD Chief of Department John Chell, Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry and other authorities including from U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) on Sunday, July 20, to give an update on the situation and after visiting the injured agent.

Tisch outlined what had happened the previous evening saying the report was preliminary and subject to change. “Yesterday, July 19th, at 11:53 p.m., the officer was sitting on the rocks along the waterside. Two males rode up to him on a scooter, and the passenger got off and approached him from behind. One of the perpetrators produced a firearm, at which point the officer realized that he was being robbed and drew his service weapon in defense. The perp fired first, and an exchange of gunfire followed. The officer was struck in the forearm and in the face.”

 

She continued, “This was all captured, as the mayor said, on CCTV, which also shows that the perp was injured by the gunfire and limped back to the scooter. The perp and his accomplice, the driver of the scooter, then fled the scene. At this time, we have no indication that the officer was targeted for his employment.”

 

The police commissioner added, “Detectives have not yet recovered the perp’s firearm, but we did recover discharged shell casings, both .380 caliber and 9mm. The 9mm are consistent with the officer’s service weapon. We also recovered blood at the scene, which is now being processed for DNA evidence and compared to bloody clothing, later recovered as part of the investigation.”

 

She added, “At this time, we are investigating a person of interest in relation to this shooting. Miguel Mora, a 21-year-old male, walked into Bronx Care Hospital at 12:18 a.m. with gunshot wounds to the groin and the leg, consistent with the injuries sustained by the perp, as captured on the CCTV video that our detectives have reviewed. He was then transported to Lincoln Hospital, where he underwent surgery.”

 

Tisch said the initial investigation revealed Mora Nunez had entered the country illegally in 2023 through Arizona, and has two prior arrests for domestic violence in New York. “He has an active warrant after not showing up to a court date on one of those cases,” she said. “Additionally, Mr. Mora was wanted by this department on both a robbery from December 2024 and a felony assault stabbing from January 2025, both of which occurred in the Bronx. He is currently in our custody at Lincoln Hospital and is expected to be arrested today for both incidents.”

 

She said Mora Nunez was also wanted outside of New York and Massachusetts for the robbery of a pawn shop in which guns were stolen in February 2025. “The NYPD is working hand-in-hand with Customs and Border Protection through the HSI Violent Gang Task Force to confirm that the person of interest in custody is the perp who shot the officer, as well as find and apprehend his accomplice.”

Norwood News reached out to the NYPD and the Bronx District Attorneys’ office for details of the Bronx crimes and will share further details as they become available.

 

For his part, Adams said, “We are here to just, first, give our prayers to the family members of one of our partners in public safety that was struck twice with a bullet,” the mayor said in part. “I thank God that he’s still with him and receiving the care from this excellent hospital, Harlem Hospital.”

 

Recalling the two rookie Police Officers (now Detectives) Wilbert Mora and Jason Rivera who were shot and killed responding to a domestic violence incident in Harlem in January 2022, Adams added in part, “Public safety is a dangerous assignment and all of us who have done it or who are currently doing it, we do it with the full understanding, not only on duty but off duty, that danger still exists.”

 

He said the incident was a clear example of “everything that’s broken by our criminal justice system.” He continued in part, “One, the perpetrator or the person of interest that we have in custody has been known to have repeated interactions with law enforcement, violent interactions with law enforcement. The second, the over-proliferation of guns, although we’ve removed over 22,000, bad guys continue to get guns in their possessions and they’re not afraid to use them.”

The mayor continued in part, “And thirdly, something that I’ve talked about often, the violent migrant and asylum seekers who are bringing violence and really tarnish the reputation of those who come to this country to pursue the American dream. We have to be quick and swift to deal with those who believe they’re going to inflict violence, not only on documented New Yorkers, but they are known to commit violence on undocumented New Yorkers.”

 

Adams thanked the CBP and HSI colleagues who had joined him for the press conference and added, “I’m sorry that we’re here for this unfortunate incident,” he said in part. “We expect our city and state and federal law enforcement officers to always keep an eye out for trouble, both on and off duty, and that’s what we see in this incident. Their training teaches them to always be prepared no matter what, be ready to protect themselves and protect the public.”

 

He said the victims were just enjoying the city “like so many of us do during a hot evening hour. He continued in part, “I just visited the officer as he makes his recovery. His mom and his family members were there, and they thanked the city for their response. I want to announce that we have a person of interest in custody.”

 

He concluded in part, “Violence of this kind will never, never be accepted in this city. We want to thank our partners, and again, our heart goes out to the family members who are involved in all of New York.”

 

Russo thanked the NYPD for what he described as “their incredible efforts to help save our officer.” He added, “The location in the park where the incident occurred is one where an ambulance would not be able to get to quickly, and NYPD was very quick to escort our officer to the hospital and help save his life.”

He also thanked the Mayor’s Office for all their support. “This investigation is one that we are cooperating fully [on] with the NYPD and with Homeland Security Investigations and our Internal Affairs Office as well,” Russo said. “Let’s make something incredibly clear tonight, today. Our officer is a hero. He did exactly what we ask of all of our officers under the circumstances. He executed our mission, which is to protect the country, and he did it by stopping a threat.”

 

He added, “If not for his efforts, this person of interest would have committed more armed robberies. And so, we are grateful for his efforts. We expect him to make a speedy recovery, and our hearts go out to him and his family.”

 

In response to some questions, it was confirmed that the officer was not in uniform at the time of the incident, was only communicating with hand gestures at this time, has not been identified, and is stable.

 

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny provided some more detail on the incident, saying, “The person he [CBP agent] was with called 911, but we also had an additional 911 call for a robbery that had taken place about five minutes previous. Very similar motive, two males on a scooter that forcibly removed a cell phone from a woman. So, the officers were responding to both 911 calls.”

 

Given a Massachusetts warrant, deportation order, and multiple arrests in New York City, a reporter asked how the perpetrator had felt “comfortable enough to hang around after he had already robbed somebody because he didn’t have to worry about if he was going to be let go again, and it took a federal agent shooting him to stop.”

 

Adams replied, “Our goal is to get dangerous people off the streets. And we have done that with our federal partners. If you know of a number of the dangerous gang takedowns that we participated in, and whatever we need to do in our federal laws to ensure that dangerous people are not on our streets, federal authorities need to do that.”

He added, “Here in New York City, our laws are clear on what we can do and what we can’t do. We will always coordinate with our partners going after dangerous individuals. We’re not allowed to coordinate dealing with deportation, civil deportation only. But we have used the tools of our task force and our federal partners to remove dangerous people off the streets. Also, I want to add that I communicated with the border czar, and he’s en route also to visit our officer.”

 

Meanwhile, the commissioner concluded saying the NYPD was also working with the Southern District of New York on the case. “Of course, if anyone has any information about this incident or the whereabouts of the accomplice, we urge you to call Crimestoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS,” she said.

 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Kristi Noem hosted a further press conference, together with other government officials, in Lower Manhattan on Monday, July 21, to discuss the incident.