Drugs and weapons found in apartment of migrants with child in New York: 8 arrested

Eight people were arrested in a basement apartment in the Bronx (NYC) after police found several weapons and at least 3 ounces of drugs in the same room where a 7-year-old boy was playing.

Officers responded to the multi-family home on Hull Ave. near E. 207th St. in Norwood around 10 p.m. last Wednesday for calls of a man with a gun, the NYPD’s chief of patrol said yesterday. John Chell, at a press conference.

A sergeant and two officers who approached the address allegedly saw Hector Desousa Villalta, 24, pointing a gun at a group of people. Officers chased him to a basement apartment, entered and recovered the gun, Chell said.

Inside were seven other adults and a 7-year-old child. When the police arrived, Javier Alborno (22) put a gun under his arm and tried to leave the apartment, but he was arrested before.

After executing a search warrant, four loaded weapons, three loaded extended magazines, a box of ammunition and at least a few ounces of cocaine and ketamine were recovered, he detailed. DailyNews.

Police arrested Desousa Villalta, Alborno and six other people and charged them with criminal possession of a controlled substance and other related charges.

Desousa Villalta and Alborno already have ongoing cases in Yonkers and The Bronx, respectively, Chell added. In August, Desousa Villalta was charged with attempted murder after he allegedly traveled to Yonkers on a moped and shot a man during a fight over a woman.

Alborno was arrested in September in the same Bronx apartment as Wednesday’s raid, after police allegedly found him in possession of a loaded firearm. He was released without bail and is awaiting his next court appearance in that case.

Following the arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court, only two of the suspects were held on bail, a decision that upset Chell. “Why is a person locked up for a firearm on the street on supervised release?” he said. “Why are we doing this a second time? That’s the point,” he added in reference to the state’s criminal reform activated in 2020, which has since been linked to impunity and the rise of crime, according to NYPD leaders and other critics.

All charges are mere accusations and those charged are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.