A 39-year-old Guyanese man in West Hempstead, New York, was allegedly attacked and killed Thursday night by a fellow resident with whom he was drinking and Nassau County Police said while the men weren’t friends, they weren’t strangers either.
According to a online news report, Nassau County Police disclosed new details about the attack that killed the Guyanese man outside National Wholesale Liqui-dators store Thursday night but the victim’s name is not being released until his family is notified.
Bruny Fenelon and the man he allegedly murdered “were acquaintances,” a spokesman for the Nassau County Police told reporters Friday afternoon.
“They only knew each other by their street names,” Police Inspector Kenneth Lack stated at a press conference at Nassau County Police Department headquarters.
Both Fenelon, 30, and his victim, a 39-year-old man from Guyana, were both residents of West Hempstead but they weren’t employees of National Wholesale Liquidators.
However, they were drinking alcohol together near the loading docks of the Hempstead Turnpike store when an argument broke out between them Thursday night.
“The argument escalated into a physical altercation,” Lack said, adding that he did not know which man attacked first. “When the victim fell to the ground, he (Fenelon) began to viciously punch, kick, and stomp him in the face, neck and head, causing his death.”
Lack stated that there were “several witnesses to the event,” but none of them tried to intervene to stop the brutal attack. Police do not believe it was gang-related. It was a passerby who called 911 to report an attack in progress.
Patrol cars and emergency vehicles quickly descended upon the scene, but Fenelon had already fled on foot. He was arrested at his home, located on Hempstead Turnpike, before midnight.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Lack said police had still not located the victim’s relatives and did not know whether or not he did have any family members living in the local area.
Fenelon was arraigned late Friday morning in First District Court in Hempstead and he faces charges of second degree murder.
However, this is not Fenelon’s first offence. Lack stated that he also has prior cases of second-degree robbery in 2001, a warrant arrest for violating his probation in March 2004 and a DWI arrest in 2009.
In the 2001 incident, Lack said Fenelon and another perpetrator stole a bicycle from a man. And similar to Thursday’s attack, the victim was knocked to the ground, and Fenelon and his accomplice then punched and kicked him.
