New York City Police Arrest Suspect in Killing of Gay Subway Rider – Metro Weekly
Andrew Abdullah was arrested and is being charged in the death of Daniel Enriquez – Photo: New York Police Department, via Twitter.
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Following a citywide manhunt, New York City Police have arrested the prime suspect in the fatal of a gay man who was riding the subway last Sunday.
On May 22, Daniel Enriquez, a 48-year-old employee of investment giant Goldman Sachs’ research division, was riding on a Manhattan-bound Q train on his way to brunch, around 11:42 a.m., when he crossed paths with a man who appeared to be pacing around the last train car.
Witnesses later told police that the gunman was muttering to himself prior to the shooting.
“The only distinguishable words heard were, ‘no phones,’” NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said at a press briefing earlier this week. “The male suddenly, and without any prior interactions or provocation walked up to our victim… and shot him one time in the chest.”
The gunman fled the scene after the shooting and passed the gun off to a homeless man sitting outside the subway station, according to the New York Post.
Enriquez, a gay Park Slope resident who lived with his partner of 18 years, was transported to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, where he later died from his injuries. There is no indication that the shooting was motivated by anti-gay animus.
Based on security footage showing the gunman fleeing the scene, police initially identified 25-year-old Brooklyn resident Andrew Abdullah as a person of interest, and later began identifying him as their chief suspect.
The NYPD conducted a manhunt, sharing wanted posters with a past mugshot of Abdullah on social media in the hope that someone would help them locate him.
Abdullah allegedly sought to turn himself in with the assistance of a Brooklyn bishop, who showed up at the 5th Precinct police station, located in New York’s Chinatown neighborhood, to try and negotiate how Abdullah would turn himself into police. But police ultimately arrested Abdullah at Legal Aid Society office in Manhattan while those talks were going on.
Abdullah has since been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
“I’m glad for the city,” Adam Pollack, Enriquez’s partner, said following news of Abdullah’s arrest. “It doesn’t change anything for me, though. I don’t get any relief.”