It appears the New York Police Department tried their best to hide the illegal immigrant MS-13 gang member accused of murdering someone at a subway station.
The New York Post reports that cops tried to “shield” alleged shooter Ramiro Gutierrez from public scrutiny ahead of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, in which he mentioned the attack:
Cops bent over backward Tuesday to shield alleged killer Ramiro Gutierrez from public scrutiny after his arrest for Sunday’s broad-daylight slaying in Queens — going so far as to feed reporters bogus information about his whereabouts and claim ignorance on his illegal status hours before President Trump’s State of the Union Address renewing his request for a border wall.
Part of the charade included police waiting until 4 a.m. Tuesday morning to announce that Gutierrez, 26, had been charged with the murder of rival Abel Mosso, 20, even though the suspect had been in police custody since Monday. Mosso was a member of MS-13’s rival gang, the 18th Street Gang.
Police also told reporters Tuesday afternoon that they would be walking Gutierrez out of the 115th Precinct station at 4 p.m., but they instead snuck him “out a back door by 2 p.m. en route to a courthouse in Queens,” the Post reported.
The murder occurred on the 7 train at the 90th Street Elmhurst Avenue subway station. Video of the event quickly went viral. Gutierrez allegedly shot Mosso “multiple times in the face” during the “gang-related incident,” according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea.
Gutierrez was out on $2,500 bail after he was arrested on attempted murder and other charges in December 2018. He was indicted along with 11 other alleged MS-13 members “on various charges including attempted murder and conspiracy, in addition to drug and weapons charges,” according to Fox News.
The Post reported he was on bail for “allegedly plotting a burglary.”
Gutierrez has a history with law enforcement, with nine previous arrests, “including for drug possession and possession of stolen property, sources said, adding that five of his arrests are sealed,” the Post reported.
Police told the Post that moving Gutierrez ahead of the schedule they shared with reporters was because Queens District Attorney Richard Brown’s office asked them to, after the suspect hired a lawyer. DA sources, on the other hand, told the Post they did not know about such a request.
U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officials say Gutierrez is “illegally present” in the country, but police wouldn’t say he was in the country illegally.
“He entered without inspection at an unknown date and time. A detainer was placed on him today,” an ICE official told the Post on Tuesday.
In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Trump mentioned the MS-13 gang and the murder in New York:
The savage gang, MS-13, now operates in 20 different American States, and they almost all come through our southern border. Just yesterday, an MS-13 gang member was taken into custody for a fatal shooting on a subway platform in New York City. We are removing these gang members by the thousands, but until we secure our border they’re going to keep streaming back in.
Gutierrez’s lawyer, Scott Bookstein, said before the SOTU address that he “wouldn’t be surprised if” Trump brought up the event.
“It’s absolutely crazy. It undermines my client’s presumption of innocence,” Bookstein told the Post. “It’s a tragedy it’s being used for political purposes.”
