Venezuelan migrant who shot two NYPD cops in East Elmhurst last year sentenced to 28 years: DA

Venezuelan migrant Bernardo Raul Castro Mata was sentenced on Tuesday to 28 years in prison for shooting two police officers during a struggle in East Elmhurst last year. Photo courtesy of the NYPD

June 11, 2025 By Bill Parry

The homeless Venezuelan migrant who admitted he shot two on-duty police officers while resisting arrest in East Elmhurst just over a year ago was sentenced to 28 years in prison Tuesday in Queens Supreme Court.

Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, 20, pleaded guilty on May 20 to attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the second degree for shooting Police Officer Richard Yarusso and Police Officer Christopher Abreu.

The officers were assigned to the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights when they attempted to stop Mata from riding a motorcycle in the wrong direction on a one-way street.

According to the charges, at around 1:40 a.m. on June 3, 2024, Yarusso and Abreu were on patrol with NYPD Sergeant Nicholas Condos in an unmarked police vehicle while wearing an NYPD uniform when they saw Mata operating an unregistered motorcycle the wrong way down Ditmars Avenue near 90th Street. Mata was not wearing a helmet as he weaved the bike onto the sidewalk with pedestrians present.

Yarusso and Condos got out of the unmarked police vehicle and attempted to approach Mata, at which point he left the motorcycle and ran from the scene. Yarusso began a foot pursuit, while Abreu followed Mata in the unmarked vehicle. Condos pursued Mata on the motorcycle he had ditched. Abreu caught up to Mata and attempted to place him under arrest, but he resisted by twisting his body, flailing his arms, and reaching inside a bag he was wearing across his chest. Yarruso attempted to help Abreu place Mata in handcuffs, and the two officers struggled with the defendant on the ground.

During the struggle, Mata removed a firearm from his cross-body bag and shot Yarusso in the lower chest at point-blank range. The officer’s bullet-resistant vest stopped the bullet. Mata also shot Abreu and struck him in the upper right thigh area. Abreu returned fire, shooting Mata in the foot and ankle area, at which point the defendant let go of the firearm. Condos arrived and placed the defendant in handcuffs.

EMS rushed Yarusso and Abreu to Elmhurst Hospital, where they were treated for their injuries and released later that morning. EMS transported Mata to New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Flushing for treatment of his wounds.

Police Officers Christopher Abreu and Richard Yarusso were treated at Elmhurst Hospital and released hours after the shooting. Photo courtesy of the NYPD

Police recovered a loaded Hi-Point .380 caliber handgun at the crime scene as well as two deformed fired bullets, nine bullet fragments, three discharged .380-caliber shell casings, and four 9 mm discharged shell casings.

Mata admitted he used this .380 handgun to shoot at two cops out of the 115th Precinct in East Elmhurst last year. Photo courtesy of the NYPD

“It is simply a miracle that Officers Richard Yarusso and Christopher Abreu are alive today,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “These brave officers attempted to stop this defendant after he was observed riding his motorcycle the wrong way on Ditmars Boulevard and driving on the sidewalk with pedestrians present. As the officers attempted to arrest Mata, he produced a gun and shot them at extremely close range, one in the chest and the other in the leg.”

Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder sentenced Mata to 28 years in prison — 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge, followed by five years of post-release supervision, and three years on the assault charge, followed by three years of post-release supervision. The sentences are to be served consecutively.

Mata, who was homeless on the morning of the shooting, entered the U.S. illegally in July 2023 via the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass, Texas, when it was a hotspot for record-high migrant crossings, and subsequently moved to Queens, police said. He resided at The Landing Family Shelter, housed in the former Marriott Courtyard Motel on Ditmars Boulevard near LaGuardia Airport, just blocks from the crime scene, before he was evicted in May 2024, a month before the shooting.

Yarusso and Abreu have since been promoted to detectives and remain assigned to the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights.