Suspect beneath arrest in lethal New York Metropolis subway capturing

NEW YORK (AP) — A person suspected of abruptly pulling a gun and killing a stranger on a New York Metropolis subway prepare was arrested Tuesday, with police saying his motive for the unprovoked assault was “a giant thriller.”

Andrew Abdullah, 25, was anticipated to face a homicide cost within the loss of life of 48-year-old Daniel Enriquez, who was shot to loss of life whereas heading to Sunday brunch.

Abdullah “focused this poor particular person for causes we don’t know,” Chief of Detectives James Essig stated at a information convention.

The arrest got here hours after police posted Abdullah’s identify and photograph on social media and implored the general public to assist discover him. However after the arrest, police disclosed that officers briefly stopped him after the capturing however let him go as a result of his garments didn’t match the outline they got.

The Authorized Help Society, which is representing Abdullah, stated it was simply starting to evaluation proof and urged the general public to not make assumptions concerning the case.

“Mr. Abdullah deserves vigorous illustration from his protection counsel, and that’s what The Authorized Help Society will present,” the group stated in an announcement.

About six weeks after one other subway capturing wounded 10 individuals, witnesses Sunday noticed a person pacing the final automobile of a Q line prepare heading from Brooklyn to Manhattan, muttering to himself, Essig stated. The one phrases witnesses may make out: “No telephones.”

Then the person pulled out a gun and fired at Enriquez at shut vary, hitting him as soon as within the chest, police stated. The shooter fled after the prepare arrived at Manhattan’s Canal Road and ditched his gun by handing it to a stranger on the subway stairs, Essig stated. Police ultimately discovered the recipient and the gun, which had been reported stolen in Virginia in 2019.

A couple of block and a half away, officers stopped Abdullah and requested him what he was doing, Essig stated. However he wasn’t carrying the black hoodie talked about within the preliminary suspect description, and he had a backpack that hadn’t been talked about. Officers let him depart however took down his identify.

Solely later, when viewing surveillance video, did police understand that the gunman had eliminated the sweatshirt after the capturing, Essig stated.

The Authorized Help Society stated it had tried since Monday evening to rearrange for Abdullah to give up within the subway capturing, however authorities as a substitute made a “utterly unwarranted and inappropriate” choice to apprehend him outdoors the group’s workplace. An inquiry was despatched to police.

Abdullah was on parole till final June after serving 2 1/2 years behind bars on a conviction on conspiracy and tried weapon possession costs in a gang case, in line with parole information and police. Courtroom information present he has open felony circumstances stemming from an April 24 automobile theft and an alleged assault in 2020. He hasn’t entered a plea in both of these circumstances; messages searching for remark have been left together with his legal professionals.

“This horrific crime ought to by no means have occurred,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell stated at a information briefing Tuesday, calling Abdullah “a repeat offender who was given each leeway by the felony justice system.”

Earlier than his arrest, Enriquez’s sister Griselda Vile implored town Tuesday to deal with crime extra successfully.

“I’m pleading that this not occur to a different New Yorker,” she advised Fox Information. “I don’t need my brother simply to be a passing identify within the media, a passing identify in our normalcy post-pandemic.”

Enriquez labored for the worldwide funding analysis division at Goldman Sachs, the place CEO David Solomon known as him a devoted and beloved worker who “epitomized our tradition of collaboration and excellence.”

A baby of Mexican American mother and father, Enriquez spent his early childhood in Brooklyn earlier than his household moved to California after which to Seattle, his accomplice, Adam Pollack, advised the New YorkPost.

Enriquez returned to New York Metropolis within the mid-Nineteen Nineties to pursue a grasp’s diploma in Latin American research at New York College. His yen for studying didn’t cease there — through the coronavirus pandemic, he realized to play the guitar and to talk Portuguese and Italian, his household and accomplice stated.

“He was consistently in self-improvement mode,” brother-in-law Glenn Vile advised Fox Information.

The eldest of 5 youngsters, Enriquez texted his siblings about an hour earlier than he was killed to advise them to test on their mother and father, who’ve well being issues, she stated.

The seemingly random capturing additional shook a metropolis already on edge about public security. Many varieties of crime have rebounded after dipping dramatically earlier within the pandemic when individuals have been staying dwelling.

Within the first 5 months of 2022, the variety of shootings within the metropolis dropped barely over the identical interval a 12 months earlier, and the variety of murders is down 12% to date over final 12 months. However New York continues to be on tempo to have its second-highest variety of homicides since 2011, after almost a decade of document lows.

When it comes to violent crime, town stays considerably safer now than it was through the Seventies, ’80s, ‘90s and early 2000s. However crime is now metropolis voters’ high concern by far, in line with a Quinnipiac College ballot launched this month. It surveyed 1,249 registered metropolis voters and has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 share factors.

Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who campaigned on guarantees to make town safer, stated his administration will consider how it’s deploying officers throughout the sprawling subway system.

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Related Press journalists Mary Altaffer and Tom Hays contributed.