A tenant has been charged with murder as a hate crime after being accused of slitting the throat of his Manhattan sub-tenant.
Police sources said the man confessed to being motivated by a dislike of ‘Spanish people’ and that the victim was stabbed at least 47 times.
Ismail Hosameldin, 34, was due to appear before a judge in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday afternoon (June 26), accused of carrying out the May 30 bloodbath at victim Maximito Polanco’s fifth-floor apartment on Arden Street, near Nagle Avenue, in Inwood.
Hosameldin was renting a room in Polanco’s place, where he allegedly slashed the 55-year-old’s throat about 4.10pm ET after an argument, police said.
He was charged with the hate crime because he reportedly said, “I don’t like Spanish people,” a NYPD source said.
Officers initially took two suspects in for questioning at the scene but released the second man. Later on the day of the attack, Hosameldin was charged with murder and weapon possession.
The source told the Daily News that Hosameldin had not previously been accused of a hate crime, although he had seven prior arrests, including for robbery, with five sealed.
Luisa Paez, 33, one of Polanco’s next-door neighbors, previously told the Daily News that a man had been menacing residents in the days before the killing.
He had demanded access to apartments so he could gain entry to the victim’s unit.
Paez told the Daily News: “That guy was asking me to open my door so he can go through my window and go to that window because he had forgot his keys.
“I was not opening my door because he was very aggressive.”
Polanco was a Dominican immigrant who had recently arrived in New York City in search of a better future, the victim’s nephew said.
Angel Polanco said: “He came to have a better life and a better future.”
