A city parks department officer accused of shooting and killing a Venezuelan migrant who was pitching a tent in a Brooklyn green space last month is now facing hate crime charges.
Elijah Mitchell, a seasonal worker, was indicted on charges including murder as a hate crime during a court hearing Wednesday in the July 21 shooting death of Arturo Jose Rodriguez Marcano.
Mitchell was originally scheduled to be charged with second-degree murder.
The suspected killer, a 23-year-old man, was tasked with cleaning up Steuben Playground near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Clinton Hill and was infuriated when migrants from a nearby shelter camped out in the park, according to prosecutors and police sources.
Prosecutors said the man arrived at the playground to work on July 18 and began ripping apart tarps and tents at the campground while yelling at residents.
Authorities said Rodriguez-Marcano, 30, confronted the Parks employee and the two got into an argument before Mitchell returned to his car and flashed a gun from his hip, but co-workers pulled him away.
Prosecutors allege Mitchell returned to the park three days later at about 10:45 p.m., found a Venezuelan man and fired multiple shots at him, shooting him in the chest.
Rodriguez-Marcano was rushed to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he died from his injuries, police said.
Mitchell was charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime, second-degree murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, intimidation and menacing as a hate crime.
He pleaded not guilty at a court hearing on Wednesday and was released on $350,000 cash or $2.5 million bond. He is scheduled to appear in court again on Oct. 23.
Mitchell was suspended by the Parks Department on July 30.
The killing was initially believed to be linked to the shooting of two men outside a nearby migrant shelter minutes after what turned into a deadly and violent night for the city’s immigrant population.
Police said Eny DeJesus Urbina Mendez, 21, and Francisco Fuentes Rangel, 59, were shot by two suspects on a moped while they were riding near the shelter at 29 Ryerson Street.
Both men died at a local hospital and police later concluded the incidents were not related. The suspects in the shootings were believed to be members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
With post wire
