A New York City landlord was charged with murder after police say he stabbed a tenant to death over unpaid rent.
Family friends say the tenant was killed in front of his 12-year-old son in the Bronx Wednesday night. A bloody kitchen knife in a sewer near the crime scene, according to police.
Officers found 44-year-old Zakir Khan with multiple wounds to the torso in front of 1001 Logan Ave. in Throgs Neck at about 6:30 p.m., police said. He was taken to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Law enforcement sources say Khan was a tenant who had been living in an apartment inside the landlord's home for the last nine months, promising to buy the place but not paying the rent.
When the landlord, identified by police as 51-year-old Taha Mahran, confronted him about it, the two got into an argument, and Mahran allegedly began stabbing Khan in front of his 12-year-old son, according to a family friend of the victim.
The friend, who declined to give his name, was in disbelief as he left the house where Khan was stabbed.
"The landlord just came out, and from the car he pulled the gentleman who got killed, and he stabbed him multiple times," he said. "And within two hours, he was gone. It's shocking."
Police arrested Mahran on charges of murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.
In court Thursday, prosecutors said Mahran surrendered to police and confessed to the crime.
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Bronx Assistant District Attorney Leah Takantzas said Mahran told officers: "I just stabbed someone up the block. I told you many times about this and you did nothing about it. I couldn't get help. I had to take matters into my own hands, so I stabbed him."
Mahran has another court date next week.
