An illegal immigrant is facing murder charges after he allegedly fatally struck a 16-year-old girl with his vehicle in Queens, New York, on Saturday.
Edwin Cruz Gomez was arraigned on Monday for multiple charges, according to a press release from the district attorney’s office.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Edwin Cruz Gomez was arraigned on charges of murder, attempted murder, assault, vehicular manslaughter and other crimes for intentionally driving his vehicle at four people, including a teenager and her mother whom he sexually propositioned just minutes earlier. The collision, which occurred on Roosevelt Avenue in Elmhurst early Saturday morning, killed the 16-year-old girl and injured her mother and stepfather.
DA Katz said: “As alleged, this defendant subjected 16-year-old Jhoanny Alvarez and her mother to crude sexual solicitations and harassment. After the child’s stepfather and boyfriend confronted Edwin Cruz Gomez and then crossed to the other side of the street, the intoxicated defendant drove his SUV onto the sidewalk and took aim at the group of four. The defendant pinned the teen against a pole with his vehicle and injured her mother and stepfather as he barreled his 3-ton vehicle into them. This defendant is now charged with murder and related crimes and we will seek justice for Alvarez and her family.”
Prior to the incident, Gomez was with a group of men who approached the victim, named Jhoanny Alvarez, who was with her mother and stepfather. “The defendant began harassing the victim and her mother, offering them both money for sexual acts. A verbal dispute ensued and then escalated into a physical altercation between the victim’s stepfather and the defendant. Bystanders intervened and separated the men,” the district attorney’s office explained.
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Video footage appears to show the aftermath of the physical altercation. Gomez can be seen walking away after picking up one of his shoes that had come off during the fight. The footage then shows a pickup truck slamming into the other group, pinning the victim against a pole.
38-year-old Edwin Cruz-Gomez, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, brutally killed a 16-year-old girl in Queens, NY, on Saturday. He mowed her down with his SUV after she spurned his sexual advances. The Biden administration declined to deport him in 2024. pic.twitter.com/JEnGH5NhUy
— Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) September 17, 2025
Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported that Gomez is from Honduras and had already been deported multiple times. He also had a history of DUI arrests. He noted that Gomez “was also ignored by ICE after an October 2024 arrerst for possession of a forged instrument because the Biden administration didn’t consider him an immigration enforcement priority.”
BREAKING: Per ICE sources, the drunk driver arrested by NYPD for murder on Saturday after he fatally mowed down a 16-year-old girl who rejected his sexual advances is a previously deported Honduran illegal alien w/ multiple prior DUI arrests. I’m told he was also ignored by ICE… pic.twitter.com/bl7rr2eKlD
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) September 16, 2025
Alvarez was pronounced dead at the scene. Gomez “approached uniformed NYPD officers a few blocks away and reported that he was assaulted” and “led officers back to the collision location,” the press release explained.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said this incident is an example of “the dangers of sanctuary polices.” He further explained that “because his crime didn’tmeet the threshold under President Biden’s soft-on-crime stance, he was released again” after having been deported. “The guy kept getting let out of jail,” Lyons added. “We keep trying to get a hold of him, and now a 16-year-old girl has lost her life.”
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons breaks down the failures of both the Obama and Biden administrations for allowing Edwin Cruz-Gomez to terrorize the streets of Queens, killing a 16-year-old girl.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 17, 2025
The man was caught MULTIPLE TIMES and RELEASED. https://t.co/jAf0tKaxMC pic.twitter.com/buTCb89eof
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left's lies, new legislation wasn't needed to secure our border, just a new president.
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