Two days after Shani Patel, a 21-year-old student of Rutgers-Newark, was killed April 10 in a suspected drug-related robbery attempt, a 25-year-old alleged assailant who entered Patel’s off-campus private apartment killing him and injuring his roommate was arrested by police.
Marcus Feliz of Newark was charged with the murder of Patel, a junior economics major from Toms River, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
News report quoting prosecutors said that Feliz was also charged with felony murder and robbery. Bail has been set at $750,000 by state Superior Court Judge Michael Nelson, according to the ECPO quoted by NJ Advance Media.
Patel’s 23-year-old roommate, whose name was not released, underwent surgery in hospital and was said to be in critical condition as of April 11, news reports said.
The NJ Advance Media, which first reported the incident, said quoting unidentified sources that police found a substantial amount of drugs and money at the scene of the fatal shooting near the intersection of Central Avenue and Halsey Street. The New York Times said last week quoting from a Rutgers police statement to the Newark campus shortly after midnight, that two assailants, both in their early to mid-20s and one shirtless, fled the scene of the crime.
At press time, It was not clear following the arrest of Feliz if there is a second suspect in the killing as initially believed by police. Patel was pronounced dead at the scene. It was not known if the motive for Patel’s murder had been establishsed after the arrest if Feliz.
Patel’s Facebook and Linkedin profiles identify him as a member of the Rutgers Class of 2016 who graduated from Toms River North High School in 2012. But some more facts about Patel came to light since his killing last week Ashbury Park Press said in a report based on court records that at the time of his death, Patel was on probation for possessing more than 50 grams of marijuana with the intent to distribute it, stemming from an arrest on April 15, 2013, in Toms River, when Patel was 18 years old.
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