Immigration probes how shooting suspect got to NYC

By Colleen Long
ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:27 a.m. October 23, 2008

NEW YORK – Federal immigration officials are wondering how a man involved in a subway shootout with police officers had re-entered the U.S. after being deported a decade ago after a drug arrest.

The man, Raul Nunez, illegally used a student's fare payment card to enter a subway station during Tuesday evening's rush hour, police said. Two plainclothes transit officers tried to arrest him, and in a struggle he grabbed one of their guns and shot them, police said.

Nunez, who is from the Dominican Republic, reportedly told authorities he resisted because he was afraid he'd be deported again if he were arrested.

Nunez, 32, was deported June 24, 1998, by an immigration judge after a drug arrest in New York. He was charged in Manhattan with selling cocaine to an undercover officer in 1997. He also had a drug conviction in 1996.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents say they're not sure when he re-entered the country.

Officer Shane Farina, who was shot near his sternum and suffered a fractured rib, remained in critical but stable condition Wednesday after undergoing surgery. Officer Jason Maass, who was shot in the lower back, was released early Wednesday from a hospital. Both officers were wearing bulletproof vests, police said.

Farina, 38, joined the police department four years ago. Maass, 28, has been an officer with the department since 2006.

Nunez was shot twice in the left leg and once in the torso and right leg by a nearby police lieutenant as he tried to run away, police said. He was hospitalized under police custody. It wasn't immediately clear what his condition was Wednesday.

He is awaiting arraignment on charges of attempted murder. Federal immigration officials said Nunez also faces a charge of re-entering the country after deportation.

Nunez would face 25 years to life in prison and deportation if convicted

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