A Far Rockaway man was arrested Tuesday morning and charged in connection with two shootings in Queens and Brooklyn on the same day last month.
An indictment was unsealed in Brooklyn federal court charging Abel Mora, 22, a member of the Trinitarios street gang, with being a convicted felon in possession of ammunition related to the two shootings in Queens and Brooklyn on Aug. 13. During his arrest, law enforcement recovered a loaded 9mm firearm with a 17-round magazine inside Mora’s Far Rockaway residence, according to federal prosecutors.
As alleged in the indictment and court filings, the charges stem from two shootings allegedly committed by Mora within a span of nine hours. At around 1:05 p.m. in Far Rockaway, Mora exchanged gunfire with individuals inside of a vehicle as they chased each other throughout a residential neighborhood in the vicinity of New Haven Avenue and Beach 13th Street in Far Rockaway. The shooting, which was captured on video surveillance, arose from a fight that broke out between an occupant of the vehicle and Mora’s associate. Residents of the neighborhood, including children, ran for cover to escape harm.
The second shooting occurred at around 9:18 p.m. outside of 3441 Fulton St. in East New York, Brooklyn. Mora allegedly shot a victim and then robbed him of his backpack. Video surveillance capturing the shooting incident showed Mora committed the violent crime outside of a busy convenience store with customers and children present inside and outside of the location. Immediately following the second shooting, Mora fled to Etna Street with the stolen property, where he was picked up by an associate on a scooter. The victim survived and a total of ten 9mm Luger cartridges were possessed by Mora in the two shootings.
“As alleged, this defendant was a one-man crime wave, who engaged in a broad daylight gungight in Queens, then robbed and shot someone in Brooklyn later that same day,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said. “This Office will continue working tirelessly to dismantle and reduce gun violence by prosecuting violent offenders who put the safety of communities in our district at extreme risk.”
Peace thanked the FBI/NYPD Metro Safe Streets Task Force and the NYPD’s 101st Precinct in Far Rockaway and the 75th Precinct in East New York for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution.
“Today’s indictment is a result of of the tight focus the NYPD and our law enforcement partners maintain to identify and remove from the streets the individuals who are most significantly driving crime and violence in New York City neighborhoods,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said. “I thank our colleagues at the FBI and the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, in particular, for their unwavering dedication to our shared public safety mission.”
At the time of the shootings, Mora had a prior felony conviction for assault for a 2020 shooting in Queens.
“Gang members like Mora continue to plague our city with his blatant disregard for the safety of our community and his reckless indifference to human life,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge James Smith said. “It is only through our local and federal partnerships that we are able to put a stop to these violent repeat offenders. This case is another example of how the FBI and our law enforcement partners are dedicated to keeping the streets of New York safe for everyone in our community.”
Mora was arraigned on Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy who ordered him detained. If convicted, Mora faces up to 15 years in prison on each of the two counts.
