Weapons and parts recovered from Guerrero’s Apartment
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., and New York City Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban announced the indictment of ROBERTO GUERRERO, 29, for manufacturing and possessing ghost guns and gun parts, including two fully operable 3D-printed assault weapons, inside of his apartment in Harlem. GUERRERO allegedly test-fired some of the guns in Central Park on several occasions. GUERRERO is charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, Manufacture, Transport, Disposition and Defacement of Weapons, and Criminal Possession of a Firearm, among other charges. [1]
“As alleged, Roberto Guerrero threatened the safety of all New Yorker, including his own children, when he decided to manufacture and store 3D-printed weapons – some of which were fully operable – in his home,” said District Attorney Bragg. “As the technology behind 3D weapons continues to improve, the guns being produced are only becoming more sophisticated. Gun violence remains our top priority and while I am pleased that shootings and homicides are down significantly since I took Office, we must remain diligent and leverage every tool at our disposal to tackle ghost guns and ultimately prevent gun violence.”
“The NYPD does incredible work every day to identify, investigate, and arrest anyone who chooses to deal in the illegal gun trade, and this indictment proves that more needs to be done,” said NYPD Commissioner Caban. “This cache of weapons, including untraceable, 3D-printed ghost guns, had the potential to wreak horrendous carnage — as the defendant, himself, demonstrated several times on video. The NYPD will continue its critical efforts to keep all New Yorkers safe, and I thank our city, state, and federal law enforcement partners for their ongoing dedication to our shared public safety mission.”
This case stemmed from the Office’s Ghost Gun Initiatives’ long-term investigation, in partnership with the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), New York State Police, the United States Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”), and Office of the Inspector General of the New York City Housing Authority (“NYCHA”).
According to court documents and statements made on the record in court, beginning in at least September 2023, GUERRERO created 3D-printed firearms and ordered firearm parts to his home.
On March 20, 2024, at approximately 6:10 a.m., pursuant to a court-authorized search warrant on GUERRERO’s apartment, officers recovered a 3D-printed pistol with a magazine loaded with seven rounds of ammunition; a 3D-printed assault weapon-style pistol; 30 3D-printed pistol lower receivers; and a large capacity ammunition feeding device. One of the lower receivers was modeled off of a traditional AR-15 weapon. A 3D printer and other supplies to assemble weapons, such as filament and other tools, were also recovered.
These firearms and components were unsecured and accessible inside of bags and cardboard boxes in GUERRERO’s residence. GUERRERO’s children were home at the time the search warrant was executed. His wife, who is separately charged in a Criminal Court complaint for allegedly assisting with the manufacturing operation, was also at home when the search warrant was conducted.
GUERRRO also purchased and sold gun parts through several online retailers under various aliases. He would advertise his designs through self-produced videos.
Furthermore, GUERRERO recorded videos of himself firing some of the weapons he constructed on five occasions in Central Park. For example, he fired two assault weapons with attached silencers on December 8, 2023, and February 20, 2024.
Weapons and parts recovered from Guerrero’s Apartment
The Office has made cracking down on the proliferation of ghost guns a top priority. Earlier this year D.A. Bragg called on YouTube to take additional steps to stop the proliferation of videos on its platform that show how to make and manufacture ghost guns and 3D-printed guns, many of which are pushed towards young children and adults through its algorithm. The D.A. also proposed legislation to close loopholes in New York’s gun laws that would make it a felony to manufacture ghost guns and a misdemeanor to share, sell or distribute files containing blueprints for 3D-printed firearms components.
The D.A.’s Office, in partnership with the NYPD and other law enforcement partners, established the Ghost Guns Initiative in 2020 to crack down on the proliferation of ghost guns in New York City. To date, the Ghost Guns Initiative has prosecuted cases involving the seizure of over 134 ghost gun parts, 92 firearms, 443 high-capacity magazines, 47 silencers, and other gear including scopes and rapid-fire modification devices.
Assistant D.A. Tyler Keefe is handling the prosecution of this case, with the assistance of Assistant D.A. Bonnie Seok (overseeing the Ghost Guns Initiative), under the supervision of Assistant D.A.s David Stuart (Chief of the Counterterrorism Unit), Mike Ohm (Chief of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau), Judy Salwen (Principal Deputy Chief of the Rackets Bureau), and Jodie Kane (Chief of the Rackets Bureau and Acting Chief of the Investigation Division). Trial Preparation Assistant Reva Kale (Rackets Bureau), Senior Computer Forensic Analyst Borislav Vestfrid (High Technology Analysis Unit), Cyber Response Investigator Marko Papic (High Technology Analysis Unit) and Steven Moran (Director of the High Technology Analysis Unit) are providing valuable assistance.
D.A. Bragg thanked the following members of the NYPD’s Major Case Field Intelligence Team: Detective John Uske, Detective Christopher Thomas, Detective John Shultz, Detective Michael Billotto, Detective Victor Cardona, and Detective Paul Molinaro, under the supervision of Sergeant Bogdan Tabor, Captain Christian Jara, and Inspector Courtney Nilan. D.A. Bragg also thanked the 28th Precinct’s Field Intelligence Team, as well as Inspector General Ralph Iannuzzi and Assistant Inspector General Robert Joyce of the Office of the Inspector General of NYCHA.
No comments:
Post a Comment