Results tagged “josesucuzhanay”

Second Arrest in Bushwick Hate Crime Murder

The police announced the arrest of Keith Phoenix, the second suspect in the murder of an Ecuadorian immigrant late last year. The NYPD had released a photo of Phoenix taken at the RFK Bridge toll, "giggling to his heart's content - just 19 minutes after he allegedly beat a man to death with a baseball bat," and offered a $22,000 reward. His suspected accomplice, Hakim Scott, turned himself in on Wednesday. The suspects attacked the late Jose Sucuzhañay and his brother Romel when they saw them walking arm-in-arm along Bushwick Avenue and believed that they were homosexuals.

Mayor Bloomberg met with the family of Jose Sucuzhanay yesterday, and later told reporters, "I pledged to do everything I could in my power to find and to prosecute the despicable people who carried out this act." Sucuzhanay, an Ecuadorian immigrant, was brutally beaten by a group of men who had yelled anti-gay and anti-Hispanic epithets at him and his brother (they were arm-in-arm early from Saturday morning) over a week ago and died this past weekend. The Daily News reports Bloomberg also said, "Unfortunately, this atmosphere is occasionally shattered by dangerous acts of bigotry that undermine our fight to live in peace and security."

Brooklyn real estate agency owner Jose Sucuzhany, who was brutally beaten last week, died yesterday. Sucuzhanay had been declared brain dead last week but, the NY Times reports, his "kept him on life support in anticipation of his mother’s arrival, but on Friday, his heart stopped."

Authorities and activists are offering a $27,000 reward for information leading to the arrests and convictions in the brutal beating of an Ecuadorian immigrant. A waiter turned business owner, Jose Sucuzhanay was walking in Bushwick, arm in arm with his brother because they were drunk. A group of men yelled anti-gay, as well as anti-Hispanic, epithets at them and used an aluminum bat and broken bottle to beat Sucuzhanay, who was declared brain dead but remains on life support (his family is awaiting his parents). WCBS 2 reports, "It's a black-on-Hispanic hate crime that has alarmed leaders from both groups. " The Reverend Herbert Daughtry, who contributed to the reward money, said, "It is profoundly painful. I don't know what the reasons are. People just motivated by hatred, by a sense of despair." The incident, already considered a hate crime, is now being treated as a homicide.

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