NYPD arrest duo in Jose Sucuzhanay murder (includes update)

Update (March 1):

A lawyer for Keith Phoenix claimed that his client acted in self-defense over the murder of Jose Sucuzhanay.

Jay Schwitzman said that Pheonix and co-defendant Hakim Scott attacked Sucuzhanay and his brother when one of them appeared to reach for a gun. Police officials and a lawyer for the Sucuzhanay family rejected those claims. (Links via New York Times and AP).

Update (February 28):

Police yesterday arrested the second suspect wanted in the death of Jose Sucuzhanay.

Keith Phoenix was was arraigned Saturday morning on charges of second degree murder as a hate crime and is currently being held without bail.

"So I killed someone-that makes me a bad guy?...What's the big deal? That guy is dead." These were the chilling and remorseless words reportedly uttered by Pheonix during his interrogation yesterday according to the NYPD. (Links via CNN, NY1, and Gothamist).

Original Post:

New York City police arrested a man suspected in the December murder of Jose Sucuzhanay.

Hakim Scott, was charged with 2nd degree murder as a hate crime in the crime which took place in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. According to police, Scott and a second man- Keith Phoenix- assaulted Sucuzhanay and his brother Romel while shouting homophobic and anti-Latino insults. The attack was absolutely vicous and cruel:

Mr. Scott approached Jose Sucuzhanay and smashed a beer bottle over the back of his head, the police said, and then chased Romel Sucuzhanay.

Mr. Phoenix then took an aluminum baseball bat from the rear of the vehicle and struck Jose repeatedly on his shoulder, ribs and back until he fell, the police said.

“At that point Phoenix struck Jose several more times, full force, with crushing blows to his head,” said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, who announced the arrest at a news conference at Police Headquarters on Wednesday evening with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney. Once in custody, Mr. Scott “made a full confession,” Mr. Kelly said.

Authorities released the following video of Phoenix and Scott paying the toll at the RFK Bridge while laughing it up a mere nineteen minutes after the Sucuzhanay attack.

Police are still searching for Phoenix; anyone with information is asked to call the CrimeStoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.

Sucuzhanay’s murder was condemned not only in New York but also in his native Ecuador. His death came weeks after the killing of Marcelo Lucero on Long Island.

Online Sources- CNN, New York Times, The Latin Americanist, ABC News, New York Daily News