From the New York Post: A 30-year-old perp fatally shot after pulling a gun on an off-duty NYPD cop in a botched robbery was an illegal migrant who had been involved in three other violent thefts just hours earlier, sources told The Post.
Lahione Soto, of the Dominican Republic, died after he was shot by the cop outside a residential building at West 173rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Washington Heights late Sunday.
Soto, who had crossed the US border in El Paso, Texas, in June last year, was one of two moped-riding perps who ambushed the off-duty officer, the sources said.
The migrant and his alleged accomplice, who was still on the run as of early Monday, are accused of carrying out three other gunpoint robberies in the lead-up to the fatal encounter with the cop.
Over a 20-minute crime spree, the duo had reportedly robbed multiple victims, including stealing jewelry from a married couple and swiping a moped from another person.
Then they approached the off-duty NYPD officer, trying to catch him off-guard by asking, “Does Steve live here?”
Soto then pulled out his gun, prompting the officer to also draw his gun and fire at Soto three times, killing him. Soto’s accomplice then fled on the moped, and police recovered a loaded weapon at the scene.
The off-duty cop received non-life-threatening injuries.
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