‘Tyrese Haspil charged with gruesome murder of Gokada CEO Fahim Saleh’ – NYPD tells Neusroom
The New York Police Department (NYPD), on Friday, said it has arrested Tyrese Haspil in connection with the gruesome murder of Gokada CEO, Fahim Saleh.
“Pursuant to an ongoing investigation, the following individual has been arrested and charged: Haspil Tyrese, 21-year-old male, 31 Woodruff Avenue, Brooklyn, NY,” Detective Sophia Mason, spokesperson of the NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information (DCPI), told a Neusroom correspondent in an email on Friday evening.
Saleh’s dismembered body was found in his apartment in Manhattan, New York on Tuesday. An electric saw was also seen plugged close to the remains. He was 33.
New York Times reports that Haspil was Saleh’s personal assistant and he started working for him since he was 16. His motive for the killing may not be unconnected with the discovery by Saleh that Haspil had allegedly stolen about $90,000 from him.
Haspil was fired but Saleh chose not to report the theft and offered to set up a repayment plan so he could return the money, NY Times reports.
After allegedly killing Saleh, Haspil used a credit card to pay for a car to a Home Depot, and to buy cleaning supplies. He returned to Saleh’s apartment the next day to dismember the body and clean up the crime scene, the NY Times report added.
On the day of the murder, detectives believe that the killer, dressed in a black three-piece suit, wearing a black mask and latex gloves, and carrying a duffel bag, followed Saleh off an elevator that opened up in his apartment. As the two men left the elevator, the killer used a Taser to immobilize the Gokada CEO and then stabbed him to death.
Security video taken from inside the elevator showed that the killer later used a portable vacuum cleaner, perhaps in an effort to remove the particles left behind when the Taser was fired, the officials said. He also used the vacuum inside the apartment.
When Neusroom checked Tyrese Haspil’s social media pages, his Instagram and Twitter accounts were set to private. Personal information on his Facebook account are also hidden. But it is expected that those who know him will soon begin providing perspectives, which media and police could find useful.
Repost of Haspil’s arrest has sparked a flurry of reactions on social media, and users are calling for justice.
A medical doctor Nonso Egemba popular on Twitter as ‘Aproko Doctor’ said anyone could be a victim of a trusted staff like Saleh.
“Almost everyone including myself thought Fahim Saleh was killed over money gotten from dangerous people. Only to find out it was his assistant who killed him, someone he trusted,” he tweeted. “It can happen to anyone. You can only hope that good hearts surround you.”
Investigative journalist, Fisayo Soyombo warned against shielding ‘evil people’.
“Evil people rarely change,” he tweeted, “If you’re lucky enough to find them out, send them far away from you at once. If Fahim Saleh got a second chance he would do just that, no doubt.”
Another Twitter user with the handle @Needs2020, who wants justice served in the case, described the murder as odd. “The motive doesn’t match the level of overkill and the charges don’t match the crime. Horrific story, hope justice is served in this case,” he tweeted.
