Police: Apparently Random Attack By Shadow Boxer Leaves Bronx Man Dead
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A man is charged with murder in connection with an apparently random attack that left another man dead in the Bronx.
Police said Junal Jordan, 40, was first seen shadowboxing in the seventh floor hallway of an apartment building on East 156th Street around 5 p.m. Thursday.
When the elevator doors opened on his floor, Jordan allegedly grabbed a man out of the elevator and began beating him, 1010 WINS' Andrew Falzon reported.
Sources tell CBS2 that police believe the victim was hit or possibly stabbed in the back of the head.
Police said at some point the victim 46-year-old Bakary Darboe, was able to get up from the floor and tried to fight back, but that Jordan continued to strike him in the head.
Darboe was pronounced dead at the scene.
Darboe came to the United States in 2005 from Gambia seeking a better life for his children.
Family and friends said he was a devote Muslim and dedicated father of six, pursuing a masters degree in the medical field, Falzon reported.
"Any situation you have he's there for you," the victim's friend said. "He's the first person to put his money in to help the family."
The attack left his family in disbelief. The oldest of his children said they were still trying to understand what happened.
"I don't know all the details right now, and I'm not in a state to be speaking right now," they said.
Grieving relatives said the violence was too much to bear.
"Very good family, very good man," they said.
Even more disheartening for neighbors is that the motive remained unknown.
"It could've been me. It could've been my mom," Arturo Lara said.
On Friday, friends and local religious leaders filled the hallways to comfort the family.
Sources said the men didn't appear to know each other, but they both lived in the building on East 156th Street near Saint Ann's Avenue.
Jordan was arrested and is charged with murder and manslaughter. Investigators said they caught him a few blocks away from the scene, his clothes were covered in blood. He has been arrested 16 other times.
