Police also revealed that a 7-year-old child was discovered on the property. They were charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance and acting in a manner injurious to a child.
Eight illegal immigrants have been arrested after being caught squatting in a Bronx property filled with weapons and drugs. A 7-year-old child was also discovered in the basement of the home, which was located next to a school.
Hector Desousa Villalta, 24, Jaiver Alborno, 22, Yoessy Pino Castillo, 20, Yerbin Lozado-Munoz, 25, Yojairo Martinez, 42, Miquel Vaamondes-Barrios, 31, Jefferson Orlando Abreau, 39, and Johan Cardenas Silva, 35 were each subsequently charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance and acting in a manner injurious to a child.
According to ABC7, the suspects were taken into custody by the New York City Police Department shortly after 10 pm on March 27 at the home on Hull Avenue and East 207th Street in the Norwood neighborhood.
Police were called to the scene after reports that a man was standing next to the school with a gun. When officers arrived, they chased the man, who turned out to be Villalta, into the home, where the other seven suspects were discovered.
Authorities located numerous drugs, including fentanyl, as well as various firearms.
NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said "two of the people with the guns had open cases, [Villalta] for an attempted murder in Yonkers, and one walking around with an open gun indictment, walking around."
"They're squatters," neighbor Alfred Munoz confirmed, per ABC7, "and the owner has been trying to get them out of the apartment for the longest period of time." He added that a court date was set to settle what, because of New York's squatter laws, had become a landlord-tenant dispute.
Munoz noted that the group was "a disruptive force mainly because there were a lot of them. You didn't know who was staying, not staying there, and the owner of the building had a hell of a time trying to get them out."
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