By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — While Angel Alvarez was recovering in Harlem Hospital from over 20 gunshot wounds after a gunbattle with police, the NYPD was reportedly raiding his apartment.
Officers found $87,000 in cash and evidence of cocaine trafficking Tuesday during a search of Alvarez's apartment, the New York Post reported.
Officers reportedly discovered 30 Ziploc bags containing what appeared to be cocaine residue at the home of Alvarez, who was at the center of a massive shootout on Lenox Avenue and West 144th Street early Sunday morning.
Police and witnesses said Alvarez sparked the Aug. 8 gunbattle when he got into a fist fight with 21-year-old Luis Soto following a block party on the street. When Alvarez got the upper hand, Soto allegedly reached for a gun in his waistband, prompting a struggle. Police on the scene said Alvarez got control of the .38 revolver and fired it at police, sparking officers to return fire more than 45 times in a wild fusillade that hit one plainclothes officer in the chest and another in the hand.
Meanwhile, Alvarez was conscious and spoke to family members at Harlem Hospital on Tuesday, the Daily News reported.
"The police tried to kill me," Alvarez told one of his sisters, the News reported.
Another of Alvarez's sisters, Kimberly Creer, 29, claimed the money police found in her brother's apartment was cash for the family's new home.
"We [were] going to buy a house in New Jersey to leave," Creer said.
Police at first said that Alvarez killed Soto before turning the gun on police. However, the fatal bullet removed from Soto during his autopsy was reportedly more consistent with the type of 9 mm bullets used by police.
Police also searched Soto's Bronx home Tuesday and found about 15 sandwich bags with about an ounce of marijuana in each of them, the Post reported.
Soto's father, also named Luis, is awaiting trial after being charged with federal drug trafficking in an unrelated case, the Post reported.
