A migrant charged with assaulting two cops in Times Square last month and subsequently freed without bail was arrested again Tuesday night while allegedly trying to rob a Macy’s store in Queens.
NYPD officials confirmed 19-year-old Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel as one of four individuals accused of “acting in concert” to steal over $600 worth of clothing in the Queens Center Mall at around 5:30 p.m Tuesday. A security guard tried to confront the suspects but was punched in the face by one of them and suffered minor injuries.
While Gomez-Izquiel was arrested after getting away initially, the other three suspects—two men and a woman—remain on the run as of Wednesday morning. “[Gomez-Izquiel] acted as a lookout with a group of three unapprehend[ed] others, who concealed merchandise from inside the store and passed all points of sale without paying,” the NYPD said in a statement.
“Different borough, different crime—same disregard for the law,” the police department added, referring to Gomez-Izquiel’s involvement in the mob beating of two NYPD officers in Times Square.
Gomez-Izquiel, charged in late January with second-degree assault on a police officer and obstructing governmental administration, was believed to be one of the four migrants who skipped town after being controversially released without bail.
The teenage migrant’s arrest came amid an unprecedented surge in illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border, which has overwhelmed cites including New York City. “Our hearts are endless, but our resources are not,” New York mayor Eric Adams recently told Fox News. “We’re not just saying we’re out of room as a soundbite. We’re out of room, literally. People are going to be eventually sleeping on the streets.”
