Northeast
Tren de Aragua ‘asylum seeker' and migrants trafficked arsenal of weapons across NYC: prosecutor
A high-ranking Tren de Aragua gang member who claims to be an asylum seeker, along with two other migrants wearing what appeared to be high-end Ralph Lauren-branded teddy bear tops, appeared in court on Wednesday charged with trafficking an arsenal of guns across New York City.
It’s the latest case in a long list of migrant crime-related cases in the sanctuary city.
The three handcuffed Venezuelans were shuffled into the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, where they pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges, including conspiracy, criminal sale of a firearm, and criminal possession of a weapon.
Stefano Pachon, 21, a high-ranking member of the Tren de Aragua gang, sold multiple loaded guns, according to prosecutors, and some had illegal ammunition loading devices and one was a ghost gun. (Fox News)
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Prosecutors from Alvin Bragg’s Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said the weapons sold include semiautomatic pistols, shotguns, rifles and ghost guns.
One of the semi-automatic weapons was equipped with a “sear switch” to turn it automatic and many were sold with large ammunition-feeding devices to increase their capacity.
The defendants sold 11 guns between September 2024 and January 2025 on 10 separate occasions, according to court documents and statements made on the record in court, prosecutors said. The migrants are accused of sending information about the weapons over WhatsApp, including photos. The buyer would then come to the meet-up point and provide cash in exchange for the guns.
Stefano Pachon, 21, a high-ranking member of the Tren de Aragua gang, sold multiple loaded guns, prosecutors said, and some had illegal ammunition loading devices and one was a ghost gun.
He allegedly sold the weapons while out on a bench warrant and already had four arrests to his name.
Pachon, prosecutors said, acted as the ringleader and negotiated the purchase and price for most of the weapons. The sales occurred in multiple locations in the Bronx and at a gas station in East Harlem at East 125th Street and Second Avenue. He wore a red hoody in court.
Some of the guns that were confiscated by law enforcement. (Manhattan DA’ Office)
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His attorney told the court that he is an asylum seeker from Venezuela and falls under certain protection, is of modest means and had a disability from a previous stabbing. His attorney noted that President Biden recently signed an order that provides protections for Venezuelans. He came to the U.S. in December 2023.
Judge Althea Drysdale responded by saying that just because the migrants come from Venezuela doesn’t make them asylum seekers.
Darwin Figuera, 34, and Yorman Serrano, 31, were also charged in the 31-count indictment. A fourth co-conspirator has also been charged in the indictment.
Serrano, dressed in a green fuzzy hoody with a “polo” teddy bear logo, has a previous conviction in Queens and was arrested in Connecticut for possessing a shoplifting device. Figuera, dressed in a cream sweater with teddy bear designs, came to the U.S. in October, while Serrano had been here since December 2023.
All three spoke via an interpreter.
Yorman Serrano has a previous conviction in Queens and was arrested in Connecticut for possessing a shoplifting device. (Fox News)
The case stemmed in part from an investigation into Victor Parra, the ringleader of a cellphone snatching ring. Earlier this week, Parra pleaded guilty to two counts of grand larceny and is expected to be sentenced to two to six years in state prison. The evidence in that investigation contributed to the investigation of this gun trafficking conspiracy.
“These charges are a stark reminder that we must always remain vigilant against high-powered, illegal firearms and the dangerous gangs that would use them to hurt New York City families and communities,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement.
“The NYPD will always unflinchingly perform the heroic work required to prevent these weapons from getting into criminals’ hands, so that everyone in our city can live free from fear and violence.”
Darwin Figuera, 34, pictured in court. (Fox News)
Bragg said gun violence is trending downward in Manhattan, but there is a lot more work to do.
“Selling illegal weapons in Manhattan is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Bragg said in a statement. “The scourge of gun violence takes a devastating toll on our communities, and I have met with far too many heartbroken families who have lost a loved one because of illegal firearms.”
The judge ordered Pachon to be held without bail, while Figuera was held on $50,000 cash bail and Serrano had his bail set at $50,000.
The guns confiscated included; four 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistols, each equipped with ammunition magazines; a Polymer80 9-millimeter semi-automatic ghost gun that had a magazine with the capacity for 34 rounds; a Smith & Wesson .38 special caliber revolver; a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun; a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber fully-automatic pistol that had a magazine with a capacity of 15 rounds; an American Tactical 5.56×45 millimeter semi-automatic rifle equipped with ammunition magazines; a Radical 5.56×45 millimeter semi-automatic pistol with ammunition magazines; and a Ruger semi-automatic pistol.
Fox News’ Kirill Clark contributed to this report.
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Northeast
Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente identified as Brown University and MIT shooting suspect, found dead
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Authorities have identified the suspect in Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University, which left two students dead and nine injured during a finals week review session, as the same man believed to have carried out the murder of a renowned nuclear scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology days later.
His name is Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, according to Providence police.
He was found dead Thursday evening, authorities announced at a press briefing Thursday evening, after law enforcement officers in tactical gear were seen outside a storage unit linked to him in Salem, New Hampshire, for hours.
Neves-Valente, 48, was a Portuguese national and studied at Brown from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001 to study physics, according to Brown President Christina Paxson. But he went on a leave of absence and ultimately withdrew in 2003.
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A split image shows Claudio Neves-Valente, identified as the Brown University gunman, wearing the same jacket as a man identified earlier as a person of interest in the case. (Providence Police Department)
A man with the same name was also terminated from a monitor position at the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Portugal in 2000, school records show. Authorities said they believe he is the same person as the killer.
That’s also the same university attended by the renowned MIT nuclear physics professor Nuno Loureiro, who suffered fatal gunshot wounds Monday at his home in Massachusetts, about 50 miles away from Brown.
Images of Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente are displayed on a projector screen at a news briefing in Providence, Rhode Island. The 48-year-old former student and Portuguese national has been identified as the gunman behind a mass shooting that killed two students and wounded nine Saturday. (Andrea Margolis/Fox News Digital)
Rhode Island authorities said that the investigation was being handled by Massachusetts authorities, who would speak for themselves. Leah B. Foley, the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, later confirmed that Neves-Valente was suspected in Loureiro’s murder too.
“This evening at approximately 9 p.m., federal agents breached a storage locker in Salem, New Hampshire, in search of Claudio Neves-Valente, a Portuguese national we believed shot and killed two Brown University students and an MIT professor in Brookline, Massachusetts,” she told reporters in a separate news briefing. “Federal agents found Neves-Valente dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
The Brown shooting happened around 4 p.m. Saturday at a finals week study session at the Barus and Holley Building on the eastern edge of campus. A motive remains unclear, and the investigation is ongoing, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told reporters.
A split image showing multiple still frames from the surveillance video taken near Brown University of a person of interest before and after a school shooting Saturday. (FBI Boston)
The building has long hosted physics and engineering classes, according to Paxson.
“I think it’s safe to assume that this man, when he was a student, spent a great deal of time in that building for classes and other activities as a Ph.D. student in physics,” Paxson said. “He has no current active affiliation with the university or campus presence.”
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Interior view of Barus and Holley Room 166 on the campus of Brown University in Providence, R.I. On Saturday, Dec. 13, around 4p.m., a masked man with a gun entered a review session in Barus & Holley Room 166 for ECON 0110: “Principles of Economics,” shouted something indiscernible and opened fire. (Kenna Lee/The Brown Daily Herald)
Detectives initially questioned a person of interest at a hotel outside town but ruled him out as a suspect, according to authorities.
Police spent days canvassing the neighborhood for surveillance video, which turned up images of a person of interest — a masked, stocky figure who stood around 5 feet, 8 inches tall and walked with an odd gait.
Susan Constantine, a body language expert, said one key marker is how the person of interest’s right leg bows inward while his toe points outward as he walks.
Then they shared images of a second person who they said may have information about the person they were seeking and asked for the public’s help identifying both of them.
Six of the surviving victims remained hospitalized as of Thursday afternoon in stable condition.
Members of the FBI Evidence Response Team search for evidence near the campus of Brown University, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)
The two killed were identified as Ella Cook of Alabama and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov of Virginia.
The surrounding community spent days waiting for answers, with residents on edge after the school sent students home early in the wake of the shooting.
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Fox News’ Michael Dorgan, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
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Boston Celtics (18-11, third in the Eastern Conference) vs. Indiana Pacers (6-24, 14th in the Eastern Conference)
Indianapolis; Friday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Indiana aims to end its three-game home slide with a win against Boston.
The Pacers have gone 4-14 against Eastern Conference teams. Indiana is 5-12 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents and averages 13.1 turnovers per game.
The Celtics are 14-8 in conference games. Boston ranks sixth in the NBA with 12.6 offensive rebounds per game led by Neemias Queta averaging 3.1.
The Pacers are shooting 42.9% from the field this season, 1.6 percentage points lower than the 44.5% the Celtics allow to opponents. The Celtics average 15.6 made 3-pointers per game this season, 4.1 more made shots on average than the 11.5 per game the Pacers allow.
The teams play for the second time this season. The Celtics won the last meeting 103-95 on Dec. 23. Jaylen Brown scored 31 points to help lead the Celtics to the win.
TOP PERFORMERS: Pascal Siakam is averaging 23.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists for the Pacers. T.J. McConnell is averaging 16.0 points over the last 10 games.
Payton Pritchard is shooting 43.9% and averaging 16.8 points for the Celtics. Derrick White is averaging 3.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Pacers: 2-8, averaging 108.0 points, 40.7 rebounds, 22.7 assists, 7.2 steals and 5.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 115.9 points per game.
Celtics: 8-2, averaging 118.3 points, 43.5 rebounds, 22.7 assists, 8.1 steals and 5.3 blocks per game while shooting 49.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 108.6 points.
INJURIES: Pacers: Obi Toppin: out (foot), Ben Sheppard: day to day (calf), Isaiah Jackson: day to day (head), Aaron Nesmith: out (knee), Tyrese Haliburton: out for season (achilles).
Celtics: Jayson Tatum: out (achilles), Jordan Walsh: day to day (illness).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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