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New York City police have released a mugshot of a known gang member who they say is the prime suspect in a cold-blooded murder on the subway Sunday morning.
Andrew Abdullah, 25, remains on the loose after police say he shot and killed Goldman Sachs researcher Daniel Enriquez, 48, on board the Q train at 11.42am.
Witnesses say he paced up and down the train car before he ‘pulled out a gun and fired at the victim at close range as the trains [were] crossing the Manhattan Bridge,’ NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said at a news briefing following the slaying.
Once the train crossed the bridge, and pulled into the Canal Street station, Corey said, a witness pulled the emergency brake and train operator Luis Irizarry tried to revive Enriquez – who was later brought to a local hospital and pronounced dead.
At the same time, police say, Abdullah fled the scene and handed his gun to a homeless man outside of the station on the way out. The homeless man then sold the weapon to another homeless individual for $10 and some cocaine, according to the Daily Beast.
At that point, the second homeless individual stashed the weapon and directed police to it. A 9-millimeter handgun was later recovered by police on scaffolding nearby, the New York Times reports.
Police are now entering the third day of their search for Abdullah, whom they say was last seen wearing a dark-hooded sweatshirt, gray sweatpants and white sneakers.
They had previously released surveillance footage of the suspect, though it remains unclear whether the man pictured is Abdullah – who has been arrested 19 times over the past decade and is facing a slew of charges for other alleged offenses.
New York City police are searching for Andrew Abdullah (above), 25, a known gang member who is the prime suspect in the shooting death of a Goldman Sachs employee aboard a subway on Sunday
Police had previously released photos from surveillance footage of the suspect
The victim, Daniel Enriquez, 48, was traveling to meet his brother for brunch on Sunday at 11.42am when he was shot and killed
According to court records obtained by the New York Times, Abdullah is a known gang member – who goes by the name ‘Ace.’
In 2017, the Times reports, Abdullah was arrested on an 83-count indictment from the Manhattan District Attorney for a slew of offenses along with other known members of the Harlem-based gangs Fast Money and Nine Block.
‘The violence alleged in the indictments includes eight shootings, with eight shooting victims, as well as slashings, gang assaults, gunpoint robberies and various weapons-related offenses,’ the Manhattan District Attorney announced at the time, the Daily Beast reports.
He pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon and conspiracy charges the following year in exchange for a maximum prison term of three years – but he was paroled by June 2019.
Just six months later, in January 2020, Abdullah was again arrested for violating his parole by possessing a loaded gun outside of his Harlem apartment building – a case which is still pending – and was released after posting a $100,000 bail.
By March 2021, the Manhattan District Attorney once again charged him with domestic assault and endangering the welfare of a child after he allegedly punched a woman and slammed her against a wall while she was holding a baby.
And in April, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office charged him with stolen property and the unauthorized use of a vehicle.
Both of those cases are also ongoing, the Times reports, and he is due back in court on the gun charge on June 6.
Police were on the scene of the Canal Street subway after the shooting occurred
Cops say the suspect fled the scene on foot and handed his gun to a homeless man as he left
NYPD Chief of Department said at a news conference that Enriquez was killed at close range
Enriquez, meanwhile, was on his way to have brunch with his brother Sunday morning when he was shot and killed.
He had planned to take an Uber but it cost $40 each way rather than the $23 it normally costs, his partner Adam Pollack told DailyMail.com.
So instead, Enriquez decided to catch the Q train into Manhattan then switch onto the L train to Williamsburg, where he would walk to Horses and Divorces, a pool hall in the area. He would then take a cab back home, Pollack said.
But Enriquez never made it back, and Pollack said he was stunned to learn his partner was sitting in the last car on the train – which he thought was too dangerous.
‘I would never blame him but would I ever sit in the last car of the train? No f*****g way. As trapped as you are on the subway you’re even more trapped in there.’
He said he and Daniel often talked about crime in the city and how it was especially dangerous for people who didn’t have any choice but to take the subway.
‘The people who have to take the subway are less fortunate… he was fine. Everyone who is more wealthy is at home working.’
Griselda Vile, Enriquez’ sister, also spoke on Sunday night about the pain her family was suffering as a result of the attack.
And Goldman CEO David Solomon said in a statement that the firm was ‘devastated’ by the man’s death. He had worked there for nine years.
‘Daniel Enriquez was a dedicated and beloved member of the Goldman Sachs family for nine years.
‘He worked diligently to support our Macro Research team in New York and epitomized our culture of collaboration and excellence.
‘We are devastated by this senseless tragedy and our deepest sympathies are with Dan’s family at this difficult time.’
Enriquez (pictured) had originally planned to take an Uber to his brunch date with his brother, but decided to take the subway instead due to the ride-sharing platform’s surge pricing
Enriquez worked for Goldman Sachs for nine years. The company’s CEO David Solomon said his death was ‘senseless’
Enriquez’s sister called out Mayor Eric Adams (pictured) in the aftermath for failing to stop the growing crime wave in the city
The victim’s sister told The New York Post: ‘No one, no one, no one should have this happen to their family.’
Vile also attacked New York City’s recently implemented bail reform laws, saying, ‘the worst part is, even if they catch this person he’s going to be out again.’
Vile then took aim at Mayor Adams – an ex-cop who was elected on a promise to stop crime in the city – and NYPD Chief Keechant Sewell.
‘I wish you guys would go back to Mayor Adams and tell him the city is not safe,’ she told a reporter for the Post.
‘My brother just became a statistic on the way to the city. He was shot at close range.’
Her husband Glenn put it a little more simply: ‘Do your job. Get crime off the streets.’
Vile said that he should be making the city safer so that more people don’t have to go through what they’re going through.
‘I want every New Yorker to realize this could be your reality tomorrow – your worst nightmare could come true,’ she said.
‘I don’t want this to be an attack on the mayor. I want him to focus on New York as a community.’
She also called on New York City to have more of a sense of community itself.
‘We’re five boroughs we try to look out for each other. We don’t feel safe.
‘I don’t feel comfortable having my daughter take the train and now I have more reason to feel more scared.
‘Now everyone who knows my brother is gonna be more scared,’ Vile said.
According to NYPD data, while murders and shooting are down 9.9 and 7.9 percent, respectively, from last year, overall crime is up nearly 40 percent so far in 2022.
That includes a whopping 40 percent rise in robberies, a 19 percent increase in felony assaults and a 14.8 percent increase in rapes.
Transit crimes are up the highest, though, at 57.5 percent – with 907 reported through May 22, 2022, compared to 576 reported at the same time last year.
Overall crimes have risen nearly 40 percent since last year, though murders and shooting incidents remain down
Police say Sunday’s shooting was the fourth subway homicide this year.
In January, Michelle Alyssa Go, 40, was on the N/Q/R/W platform at West 42nd Street and Broadway at around 9.40am when Martial Simon, 61, a homeless man shoved her from behind with both hands while she looked down at her phone.
Go, who worked as a senior manager of strategy and operations for management and acquisitions at Deloitte Consulting, was struck by a train and pronounced dead at the scene by EMS personnel.
Simon fled the scene, but turned himself into police soon after the attack.
He was charged with second-degree murder, but was deemed unfit to stand trial.
Then in March, Barbara Gustern, 87, a Broadway singing coach, was pushed onto the tracks by Lauren Pazienza, 26, of Long Island, who was indicted on manslaughter and assault charges.
Prosecutors claim she pushed the elderly woman onto the tracks after calling her a ‘b***h’ in the Chelsea area on March 10.
She was reportedly heading in the direction of West 28th Street near Eighth Avenue where she came across Gustern, a vocal coach who had just finished rehearsals in the area, and allegedly yelled at her and angrily shoved her at the subway station.
Prosecutors say Pazienza then watched as an ambulance crew took the woman to the hospital where she died five days later.
She fled the scene that day and was on the lam for 11 days before turning herself in following Gustern’s death. Pazienza has since pleaded not guilty to first-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault.
She is due back in court on Tuesday.
The following month, the New Yorker reports, two men got into a fight near the turnstiles at the eastern end of the Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer station in Queens, when one man pulled out a gun and shot 24-year-old Marcus Bethea twice in the chest and once in the groin.
He was rushed to a local hospital, according to New York 1 News, but died shortly after.
And though nobody died, the violence on the subways garnered national attention on April 12 when police say Frank James, 62, shot up a Brooklyn subway station and wounded 10 people.
He was arrested the next day, after authorities say he drove from Philadelphia and unleased smoke bombs and dozens of bullets in a train full of morning commuters as it approached a Brooklyn station.
James is now facing charges of committing a terrorist attack or other violence against a mass transportation system – which he has pleaded not guilty to – and discharging a firearm during a violent crime.
Both counts carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, and he is now due back in court on July 25.
As a result of these crimes, Bloomberg reports, subway and bus ridership in the Big Apple is down 19 percent from what the Metropolitan Transportation Authority projected.
Only about 44.5 million people rode the subways and bus from January through April, which is about 99 million less than the MTA projected.
And on Monday, MTA CEO and Chairman Janno Lieber acknowledged that New Yorkers are now afraid to ride the subways.
‘New Yorkers are tough, and they demonstrated again and again during the pandemic that they’re trying to resume their normal lives, but they can’t resume normal life if just getting around is frightening,’ he said, according to NBC 4 New York.
‘For so many New Yorkers, the transit system is the only way to get around and to live their normal lives,’ he said. ‘[But] you can’t do that if you’re scared to get up and go to brunch and most New York activities on a Sunday for fear of being attacked.’
Speaking at an event on Monday, Adams said he ‘thanks God’ that he is in charge as the subway homicides occur, rather than someone who does not understand the situation
Still, Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday New Yorkers should be grateful that he is now in charge because he ‘understands the situation.’
He was asked about Enriquez’s death and criticisms about the rising crime in the city at an event for the New York City Housing Authority on Monday.
‘First, let me respond to the family. There’s nothing more horrific than losing a loved one to a violent act,’ he said, recounting how he had to tell families about their loved ones’ deaths as a cop for the NYPD.
‘I know that pain, that pain is real and I’ve witnessed that pain throughout my career,’ Adams said, noting: ‘It is my responsibility to keep New Yorkers safe.
‘My heart goes out to the family,’ he added. ‘I am sorry they lost their loved one. We have to continue to make sure that we are not losing loved ones.
‘I keep saying that over and over again,’ he continued.
‘We’re doing everything for people who commit crimes, we need people on the side of the good people of this city. And that family’s one of the good people of this city.
‘And I spoke with the head of Goldman Sachs, David, yesterday, and I gave him my condolences to the Goldman Sachs family, and so I understand their pain and I have to make sure this city is safe, and I want that obligation.
‘I thank God I’m the mayor right now, and not those that don’t understand the urgency of this moment.’
He added that he is working on setting up gun detectors at subway systems, explaining: ‘I want to bring technology, not metal detectors, but technology that could identify a gun.
‘I want to bring that, move it around in the subway system so that we can identify guns.’
