An inmate convicted of shooting at two Queens police officers more than a decade ago is back on the streets after he was accidentally released from a Manhattan prison, according to police sources.
Antonio Olmeda, 65, is wanted by US Marshals after he was wrongly discharged from the New York state DOC’s Manhattan Detention Center on Wednesday, sources said.
Olmeda was sentenced to 20 years to life after he pleaded guilty in 2016 to first-degree attempted murder for trying to kill NYPD Officers Stephen Denisi and Matthew Ferrara as they patrolled Jackson Heights in 2011.
Since he’s been locked up, he’s also made numerous threats to harm judges and a US attorney, according to police sources.
Olmeda was notoriously decked out in a fake beard, fedora, trench coat and glasses when he was approached by the two cops on Dec. 2, 2011.
He refused to take his hands out of his pockets, drew a gun and fired three shots.
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Fortunately, neither Denisi nor Ferrara were struck, but one of the rounds blasted through a window of a nearby dentist’s office whose waiting room was packed with children.
Olmeda was collared weeks later after police matched his DNA to the faux facial hair, which fell off as he fled the scene. Prosecutors said he was carrying a “hit list” and was on his way to kill his lawyer when he was busted.
Olmeda was additionally sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after authorities discovered a cache of more than 20 illegal firearms — including machine guns and rifles — in his Yonkers storage unit.
In 1995, Olmeda was arrested for possession of a flame-thrower and for building pipe bombs.
Shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks, he was also arrested carrying ammo and bomb-making equipment. He spent 18 months in prison but denied plotting an attack.
