A group of gun-toting migrant squatters were busted in a basement apartment in the Bronx — where authorities found a drug stash in a space shared with a young child, police said.
The NYPD collared the eight suspects after they were called to the Hull Avenue home at about 10 p.m. last Wednesday on a report of a man with a gun, according to the NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell.
When officers arrived, they saw a man pointing a pistol at someone as he stood in the driveway, Chell said. But the suspect took off when the cops walked up, and quickly headed back into the building’s basement, he added.
Officers allegedly chased, then tackled the gun-wielding man, who they later identified as Hector Desousa-Villalta, 24, of Venezuela.
That’s when another man — Javier Alborno, 22, also of Venezuela — tried to sneak out of the same basement with a handgun tucked under arm, Chell said. But the officers saw him, and soon he too was in cuffs, Chell added.
Authorities searched the apartment and found two more guns — including one so-called “ghost gun” — as well as three extended magazines, a box of ammunition, a bag of ketamine and a bag of ketamine mixed with cocaine, Chell said.
There was also a 7-year-old child inside, although it’s not clear who the parents were.
Police arrested eight people — Desousa-Villalta; Alborno; Yojairo Martinez, age 42; Johan Cardenas Silva, 35; Yerbin Lozado-Munoz, 25; Yoessy Pino Castillo, 20; Miguel Vaamondes-Barrios, 42; and Jefferson Orlando Abreau, 39 — and charged them with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance and acting in a manner injurious to a child, police said.
Desousa-Villalta and Alborno — both of whom are already well-known to authorities — were ordered held on bail, according to Chell.
Desousa-Villalta has an open case that dates back to August 2023, when police officials said he shot a fellow immigrant in the leg during an argument over a woman in Yonkers.
But the attempted murder case fell apart when the victim refused to cooperate, Chell said.
Alborno, for his part, was arrested in the Bronx last September and indicted for possession of a loaded firearm, according to police.
A judge cut him loose without bail, Chell said, even though the Bronx district attorney requested $10,000 bail.
A third suspect, Barrios, is wanted for retail theft and shoplifting in both Pennsylvania and New York. He was held on $25,000 bail, and may be extradited to those states to face charges.
The remaining suspects were released, either on their own recognizance or supervised release.
Meanwhile, the building owner told cops he didn’t know any of the people living in the basement, Chell said.
He’d rented to a man named Eduardo originally, the landlord said. And he’s taking the suspects to court to have them evicted, Chell added.
Several of the suspects are also being investigated for taking part in robberies in Bergen County, New Jersey.
But they have not yet been charged for that, cops said.