NYPD Arrests Suspect in Fake Beard Shooting

The man was found Monday with a loaded handgun, getting into a van filled with suspicious devices

A 53-year-old Manhattan man wanted for an attempted shooting of two NYPD officers earlier this month was found Monday, armed with a gun belt containing a loaded handgun and two magazines, police said.

The suspect was caught by police in upper Manhattan as he was getting into a van registered in his name, said authorities.

The suspect, 53-year-old Antonio Olmeda, was wanted for firing shots at two officers who were patrolling on foot in Jackson Heights, Queens on Dec. 2. Olmeda was wearing a black trench coat with a fake beard, a hat and dark glasses.

The man refused to remove his hands from his pockets when officers confronted him. Police say he pulled a black pistol from his pocket and fired two shots, narrowly missing the officers, then fled and shed his disguise. Police say DNA found on the fake glasses matched Olmeda's.

After setting up surveillance on Olmeda Monday morning, police arrested him in front of 323 East 116th St. at about 8 a.m. 

Inside Olmeda's 2001 Blue Chevy Venture, police found a suspicious package with wires protruding from it, a police-light package and siren underneath the dashboard, a counterfeit NYPD parking plaque, a plastic bin filled with about two dozen bottles of cleaning chemicals and a .38 caliber revolver with three expended shell casings in its cylinder, according to authorities.

Olmeda was charged with two counts of attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment, police say. Information about an attorney was not immediately available.

He served four years for weapons charges after an arsenal was found in his van including swords, pipe bombs and assault weapons. 

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