Theft plot ends in murder at auto body shop in Morrisania, Bronx, NYPD says
MORRISANIA, Bronx (WABC) -- Police have arrested two people and are searching for a third in connection with a deadly shooting in the Bronx that started as a plot to steal a vehicle.
34-year-old Aboubacar Toure was killed Thursday afternoon while working at an auto body shop in the Morrisania section.
It happened after police say 21-year-old Nasalik Espinosa and a female friend spotted Toure's vehicle in the shop and came up with a plan steal it.
They hired a tow truck driver, telling him the car was theirs and needed to be moved.
The tow truck driver didn't know he was part of an elaborate ruse, which was all captured on surveillance video that was later recovered by the NYPD.
But Toure realized what was happening and confronted Espinosa. At one point he sat on the flatbed to try to stop the vehicle from being stolen.
The tow truck left before Espinosa pulled a gun and fatally shot Toure, police say, fleeing the scene.
New York State troopers and Westchester Police spotted the stolen car in Yonkers the next day.
Espinosa and one other person were taken into custody Saturday. Espinosa faces charges of murder and manslaughter.
The woman police say Espinosa was with at the time of the murder is still being sought.
Toure is from Ivory Coast where he will be buried.
"A hard-working guy from day to night, I'm sorry he passed like that,' said business owner Joaquin Gonzalez.
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