NYC parks worker charged with murder as a hate crime in killing of migrant

NEW YORK — A parks worker for New York City accused of fatally shooting a man at a migrant encampment in Brooklyn has been indicted on charges including murder as a hate crime, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Authorities allege Elijah Mitchell, 23, of Queens, was upset that migrants were living in Steuben Playground, which he was assigned to clean as a temporary worker. They said he shot Arturo Jose Rodriguez Marcano, 30, from Venezuela, in the chest on July 21. The shooting came three days after Mitchell and Rodriguez Marcano got into an argument at the park, prosecutors said.

“This premeditated and coldblooded homicide is outrageous on many levels, not least because the alleged motive was hatred towards new arrivals to our city,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.

On July 18, Mitchell allegedly started yelling and ripping off tarps at the encampment, prosecutors said. Rodriguez Marcano confronted him and they argued, according to authorities. Mitchell then went to a vehicle and came back with a gun in his waistband, which he showed to Rodriguez Marcano before being pulled away by other park employees, officials said.

Three days later, Gonzalez said Mitchell returned to the park and shot Rodriguez Marcano, they said.

Mitchell pleaded not guilty during a court appearance on Wednesday. He is charged in the indictment with second-degree murder as a hate crime, second-degree murder, illegal possession of a weapon, menacing as a hate crime and menacing. Bail was set at $350,000 cash or $2.5 million bond, and he was ordered to return to court on Oct. 23.

Mitchell's public defender did not immediately return an email Wednesday, and no one answered the phone at the public defenders' office in the late afternoon.