(NewsInsights.org) – Neighbors in a Bronx neighborhood called the NYPD after spotting a man wielding a gun on Hull Avenue across from an elementary school on Wednesday, March 27. The resulting chase and search ended in a basement apartment, netting officers a total of eight arrests for guns, drugs, and child endangerment. The building owner claimed the group of Venezuelans was squatting in the apartment, leaving him fighting in court to evict them.
Officers chased the armed suspect, 24-year-old Hector Desousa-Villalta, into a basement apartment of a multi-family home. As they entered, another armed suspect, Javier Alborno, 22, tried to flee the scene with a handgun tucked under his arm. Authorities arrested both men, seizing a 9 mm CZ from Desousa-Villalta and a 9 mm Springfield Armory pistol from Alborno. Both guns had extended magazines.
Next, authorities searched the apartment, yielding two more guns, a 9 mm Smith and Wesson pistol and a .40 caliber “ghost” gun, each with 10-round magazines. They also found two 25-round extended magazines for the Smith and Wesson. Additionally, the officers discovered a bag of ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic primarily used in veterinary medicine, and another bag of ketamine laced with cocaine.
Lastly, police found a 7-year-old child inside the apartment with unsecured weapons and drugs. Neither Police nor court records indicate the identity of the child’s parents. In addition to Desousa-Villalta and Alborno, police arrested Yoessy Pino Castillo, 20, Yerbin Lozado-Munoz, 25, Johan Cardenas Silva, 35, Jefferson Orlando Abreau, 39, Miguel Vaamondes-Barrios, 42, and Yojairo Martinez, 42 on criminal weapons and controlled substance possession charges and for acting in a manner that could injure a child.
On Friday, March 29, Judge Eugene D. Bowen set Desousa-Villalta free on supervised release, ignoring the district attorney’s plea for $150,000 cash bail or $450,000 bond. Similarly, he released Castillo and Abreau on their own recognizance. Judge Laurence Busching set Lozado-Munoz, Silva, and Martinez free under supervised release. Prosecutors admitted they had no evidence linking Silva or Martinez to the weapons or drugs. However, the courts held Alborno and Vaamondes-Barrios pending bail, setting a cash bail of $100,000 or a bond of $300,000 for Alborno.
On Wednesday, April 3, federal agents, including agents from Homeland Security, raided the home again and arrested Desousa-Villalta, Castillo, and Martinez. Law enforcement sources told The New York Post that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to deport Desousa-Villalta.
