The Venezuelan migrant accused of shooting two NYPD cops on Monday is suspected of helping to rough up two women — one of whom was slugged in the face — during a pair of snatch-and-grab robberies days ago, police and sources said.
Bernardo Castro Mata — a 19-year-old who entered the country illegally last year — was being eyed in the violent May 21 robberies in Queens before the police shooting, sources said.
He may be part of one of several migrant moped-riding robbery crews that have been terrorizing residents around the city for months, police said.
“The patterns that we’re looking at currently in Queens that he’s involved with involve phone snatches and instances where a woman was attacked, her credit card was stolen and eventually used in a Queens smoke shop,’’ NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters after Monday’s police shooting.
That crime is believed to have involved Mata and another young man on a black and red moped who forcefully swiped their victim’s purse about 7:25 p.m. that Tuesday near 30th Street and 38th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, sources said.
The purse contained $200, debit and credit cards, an iPhone, MetroCard and documents such as IDs and insurance cards, sources said.
About three hours later, at 10:21 p.m., the criminal pair struck again in Woodhaven in the borough, punching a 38-year-old woman in the face around 88th Street and 88th Avenue and dragging her while making off with her wallet, including debit and credit cards, sources said.
One of her cards was used to try to buy something at a Burger King but was denied, sources said.
“What we’ve seen in the past with these motorized scooters, they operate as a crew,’’ Kenny said. “We’re looking at [Mata] for several other robbery patterns in the Queens area, where he does have other co-defendants.”
NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban added, “Similar scooters and bikes are being used citywide to commit crimes.
“These crimes include shootings, robberies, and phone snatches.”
He said the number of such crimes has soared in the past two years Jan. 1 to June 1, going from zero in 2022 to 20 in 2023 — to more than 80 this year.
“That’s over 80 robbery patterns alone encompassing over hundreds and hundreds of incidents,’’ the commish said.
In February, The Post reported how a brutal “Tren de Aragua” gang in Venezuela is sending its members to New York City as part of the migrant wave to launch such robberies, with the sprawling criminal enterprise then laundering the proceeds.