A New York City parks worker was indicted Wednesday for murder as a hate crime after he was charged with fatally shooting a Venezuelan migrant who’d been sleeping in a Brooklyn playground last month.
“This defendant allegedly came to the location where the victim was staying, armed with a gun, to settle a score,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. “This premeditated and cold-blooded homicide is outrageous on many levels, not least because the alleged motive was hatred toward new arrivals to our city.”
The indictment alleges that 23-year-old Elijah Mitchell from Corona, Queens, killed 30-year-old Arturo Jose Rodriguez Marcano because he was angry that migrants such as Marcano were staying in the Steuben Playground in Clinton Hill.
The attack was part of a chaotic night that included two other fatal shootings nearby. NYPD officials initially told Gothamist that they believed both incidents were connected to migrant gangs, but police have not released any information thus far suggesting the shootings were gang related.
On July 18, Mitchell was working his shift at the park, which is just a block away from two migrant shelters that house nearly 4,000 people, when he began “yelling and ripping off tarps,” the DA’s office said..
Marcano reportedly confronted Mitchell, who went to a vehicle and allegedly came back to flash a gun in his waistband. He was pulled away by other parks employees, according to the statement. The parks department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mitchell allegedly came back to the park three nights later, when he wasn’t working, found Marcano, and shot him in the chest. Marcano was pronounced dead at Methodist Hospital, and Mitchell fled the scene in his car, according to the DA’s office.
Just minutes later, two other migrants were shot near the shelter, on Ryerson Street. Enny DeJesus Urbina Mendez, 21, and Francisco Fuentes Rangel, 59, both died of their injuries. Police later announced charges against 26-year-old Jorge Said Benitez Villa for that incident.
The shootings exacerbated fears for both migrants and local residents about safety in the neighborhood. Some of the migrants who spoke to Gothamist outside the shelter the following day said their time in city shelters had expired and they had no choice but to sleep in the park. Residents said they were concerned about quality of life issues that they felt arose from the large concentration of new arrivals.
Mitchell was arraigned before Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Danny Chun, who set bail at $350,000 cash and $2.5 million bond. He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
Gonzalez said in a statement that his office would “vigorously prosecute this horrific case.”
“These enhanced charges send a strong message that hate crimes will never be tolerated in Brooklyn,” he said.
Mitchell’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.