Sucuzhanay hate crime suspect Keith Pheonix nabbed in Yonkers
BY Alison Gendar And Scott Shifrel
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
When murder suspect Keith Phoenix confessed to the hate crime slaying of Jose Sucuzhanay, his shocking first words to cops were: "So I killed somebody - that makes me a bad guy?"
Phoenix give a full confession - but showed no guilt - for the deadly beating he and his pal gave Sucuzhanay, 31, mistakenly thinking the immigrant was gay because he was walking arm-in-arm with his brother Dec. 7.
Phoenix was caught on surveillance video laughing just 19 minutes after the murder.
Phoenix's partner in the crime, Hakim Scott, 25, was caught earlier this week and expressed some remorse, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
"He felt bad and was glad to finally get it off his chest," Kelly said.
But the 28-year-old Phoenix, who continued to wielded the bat even as Sucuzhanay lay twitching on the ground, felt no guilt, police said.
"No remorse whatsoever," Kelly said.
Sucuzhanay's relatives said they were relieved by the arrests.
"The cops just called and told me they caught the second man," said the victim's younger brother, Diego Sucuzhanay. "He is the one who was the real attacker - who beat my brother with the bat.
"I saw the video of him, laughing. It is a great relief to know this person is behind bars because he would continue to commit crimes. Now there will be no more victims."
Phoenix was hiding in the Yonkers apartment of a woman who had once run a group home where Phoenix's girlfriend lived.
NYPD detectives - as many as 30 from Brooklyn North, Hate Crimes Task Force, and the NYPD's Bronx apprehension unit - had been working the case since a taxi driver jotted down a license plate of the fleeing attackers' SUV.
Investigators staked out Phoenix's friends and family across the Bronx, Manhattan and Connecticut.
One of these stakeouts paid off when someone told cops Phoenix may be holed up in the Yonkers apartment.
Phoenix, an unemployed ex-con, had spent much of the time since the murder playing video games, police sources said.
"We have to be on guard. We can not stay silent when people are attacked because of their sexual orientation or their race, their gender or whatever it is," said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.
"Clearly, these young men were attacked because these people, these cretins, thought they were gay and it makes it no less despicable that they weren't gay."
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