2 CT Men With Machine Gun Charged In Carjacking Of NYPD Officer: DOJ

HARLEM, NY — Two Waterbury men are facing multiple charges after being accused of carjacking a New York City Police Department officer while armed with a machine gun Friday evening, according to the United States Attorney's Office.

The men, Jose Rivera, 20, and Jomar Crespo, 21, are accused of approaching the sergeant's vehicle in Harlem before brandishing firearms, including a .40-caliber Glock with a "switch" that converts the semiautomatic pistol into an automatically firing machinegun, and a 9-millimeter Glock with an extended magazine.

After ordering the officer to hand over his keys, the pair drove off in his car before police pursued them in a foot chase. They were arrested Saturday and presented Monday before a judge in Manhattan.

Rivera and Crespo are charged with carjacking, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 15 years in prison; using and carrying firearms, including a machinegun, during and in relation to the carjacking, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum potential sentence of life in prison; and possessing a machinegun, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in prison.

"Carjacking is an extreme act of violence that terrorizes communities and senselessly puts innocent lives in danger," ATF Special Agent in Charge Bryan Miller said Tuesday. "I thank the men and women of the ATF/NYPD Joint Firearms Task Force, the NYPD, as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of NY for bringing these individuals swiftly to justice. We will expend all necessary resources to ensure that offenders like these defendants are quickly brought to justice and punished to the maximum extent of the law. "