Keith Phoenix, who was charged with killing an Ecuadorian immigrant last December, has given an interview from Rikers Island to the Daily News. He told the paper, "I'm not a killer. I never expected anyone to die."
Police says that Phoenix and his friend Haikim Scott allegedly beat Jose Sucuzhanay to death with a baseball bat, after seeing Sucuzhanay, a real estate broker in Brooklyn, and his brother arm-in-arm on a street (the brothers were reportedly tipsy after a night of drinking). The suspects also allegedly yelled anti-gay epithets at the brothers. After Phoenix was arrested on Friday, Police Commissioner Kelly said that he confessed, telling cops, "So I killed someone—that makes me a bad guy?...What's the big deal? The guy's dead."
Now Phoenix explains his self-defense defense to the Daily News—"I had to protect myself"—claiming he saw that Sucuzhany was carrying a gun (a claim the police dispute). Phoenix, driving an SUV, also said Sucuzhanay cursed at him and kicked his vehicle. He said he had no idea the victim was dead until the cops told him, "Dead? Dead? If I knew he was dead I would have been going crazy. I have remorse for the death.... I looked at it as just a street fight that went bad."
