Man Arrested in Killings That Terrorized Manhattan Gay Bars
A man who the Police Department described as a leader of a gang that perpetrated a series of robberies and killings at Manhattan gay bars has been arrested, law enforcement officials said on Tuesday.
The man, Jayqwan Hamilton, 35, of Brooklyn, was arrested on Monday and charged with murder, grand larceny and other crimes in connection with the killings of Julio Ramirez and John Umberger, two men who were drugged at bars in Manhattan, robbed using facial recognition technology on their phones and later found dead of overdoses.
Law enforcement said the motive for the killings was financial, but the murders nevertheless terrorized the city’s L.G.B.T.Q.
population, for whom a small number of well-known bars often function as de facto community centers. They also drew attention to the prevalence of deadly and easily obtainable drugs in New York’s nightlife. “The source of this crime was clearly rooted in greed and total disregard for the victims,” said Mayor Eric Adams at a news conference on Tuesday.
