8 arrested, including migrants, after illegal guns and drugs found in the Bronx: NYPD
THE BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) – The discovery of illegal guns and drugs in a Bronx basement last week led to eight people being arrested, including several migrants, according to the NYPD.
A woman, seven men and a 7-year-old child were all discovered living in a basement apartment at 3259 Hull Ave., police said. Officers were initially called to the building on March 27 about a man with a gun, according to authorities.
Officers found the man and a second man with firearms at the building, police said. Police identified one of the men as 24-year-old Hector DeSousa-Villalta, a migrant from Venezuela.
DeSousa-Villalta had been arrested in Yonkers last year for allegedly shooting a man and was charged with attempted murder and assault, according to NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell. The case against DeSousa-Villalta never went forward, and he was later released, Chell said.
Police identified the second man as Javier Alborno, a 22-year-old Venezuelan migrant who was arrested back in September for allegedly having a loaded firearm in the Bronx. A judge released him on his own recognizance, Chell said.
Several guns, including a ghost gun, boxes of ammunition and cocaine and ketamine were all discovered by investigators in the basement, according to authorities. Police said two people were initially arrested, but six more were taken into custody after a search warrant.
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“The problem is we’ve already made these arrests, and now our cops are out there… confronting evil for a second time. They shouldn’t be in that position,” Chell said on PIX11 Morning News.
All eight people were charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance and acting in a manner that was injurious to a child. Police said one of the suspects, Miguel Barrios, had also been known to authorities along with DeSousa-Villalta and Alborno.
Barrios was previously arrested for a domestic incident on Feb. 1, but was released, according to authorities.
“We have to have a discussion as to why they were out of jail,” Chell said.
The landlord of the building was unaware the group was in the basement, according to authorities. The landlord was in court trying to get the group out of the house.
Erin Pflaumer is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered both local and national news since 2018. She joined PIX11 in 2023. See more of her work here.
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