AUG. 15, 2014
Three men have been arrested in the fatal shooting of a Bronx livery driver during a carjacking this week, and the authorities say they are investigating whether they may have been involved in the killing of another livery driver this month.
The men, Takiem Ewing, Tyrone Felder and Kareem Martin, were charged in federal court in White Plains on Friday afternoon with one count each of carjacking resulting in death. The men are accused of shooting Aboubacar Bah, 62, early on Tuesday, dumping his body in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx and stealing his car, according to a criminal complaint.
If convicted, the men could face life imprisonment or the death penalty, said the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, which brought the complaint.
Law enforcement officials are investigating whether the men were also behind the Aug. 5 carjacking and fatal shooting of Maodo Kane in the Bronx, the complaint says. Although Mr. Kane and Mr. Bah were killed with different guns, ballistics evidence shows that both guns were used in a shooting in May in the Bronx, the complaint say.
The complaint says that a black sedan resembling Mr. Kane’s stolen livery car was used the same morning he was killed, in an armed robbery at a Yonkers minimart. Law enforcement officers are also investigating an armed robbery at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Yonkers. Mr. Kane’s car was later found abandoned, doused with bleach, in the Bronx with a cellphone that was stolen from the minimart inside, the complaint says.
The three men were arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and New York City police detectives on Thursday night and Friday morning, law enforcement officials said. A fourth suspect is still being sought. His name had not been released as of Friday evening.
Mr. Bah attended a service at a mosque on Third Avenue the morning he was killed, according to witnesses cited in the complaint. Two other livery drivers who were also at the service said they were approached by the men upon leaving the mosque and asked for a ride, the complaint says. Both drivers said they turned them down.
Mr. Bah’s livery cab was later seen on Bryant Avenue hitting at least one parked car, the complaint says. A video shows four people running after the car, getting in and dumping Mr. Bah’s body on the street before driving away, the complaint says. They were later seen getting out of Mr. Bah’s car and disposing of their sweatshirts and a knapsack in a trash bin.
The killings have prompted an outcry from livery drivers and their supporters.
On Friday, Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, which represents 30,000 drivers, hailed the arrests of the three men as a result of the cooperation between law enforcement and the livery industry. He said the arrests came after a tip from a livery driver. Mr. Mateo said his group had called livery companies and held a news conference seeking help from livery drivers in the area.
“Believe it or not,” he said, “one of them came forward and reported it to the police, and that’s how they were able to catch them.”
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