The thug held in the Greenwich Village gay-slay shooting of tragic Mark Carson has been indicted in the senseless bias murder, prosecutors announced this morning.
Ex-con Elliot Morales, 33, remains held in lieu of any bail pending the formal unsealing of his indictment at a Manhattan Supreme Court arraignment on June 18.
“Look at these f—–s — what are you, gay wrestlers?” Morales had allegedly hissed at Carson and a friend as the pair, dressed in cutoff shorts, tank tops and boots, walked on Sixth Avenue near West Eighth St. around midnight on Saturday.
Carson and his friend kept walking. But Morales allegedly persisted in his taunting, snarling, “Do you want to die here?” When Carson’s friend challenged Morales, the thug seethed to Carson, “Are you with him?”
Carson answered “Yes” — his last word — and Morales allegedly pointed a silver Taurus .38-caliber revolver and shot Carson in the cheek in what officials have decried as a cold-blooded bias execution.
Meanwhile, hate crime investigators have backed off of felony bias attack charges against the homeless man who allegedly shouted, “Why are you a f—-t?” as he pummeled a gay, homeless acquaintance after a night of drinking at a gay bar in the East Village.
Gornell Roman, 29, had originally been charged by police with assault as a bias crime for the bashing of Dan Contarino, who lived at the same homeless shelter as Roman.
But prosecutors have downgraded the case to a routine, misdemeanor assault as new details emerged about the beating.
Investigators concede that Roman did allegedly shout, “Why you want to be a f—-t? You don’t gotta be a f—-t. Why not p—y?” as they argued in front of 105 Avenue D late Monday night, according to the criminal complaint against him.
But the pair had been drinking together for seven hours preceding the assault, and Contarino had persisted in making repeated, unwanted verbal and physical sexual advances, according to the criminal complaint, which was released this morning.
Roman is being held in lieu of $7,000 cash bail, and still faces up to a year in jail on the alleged attack.
Roman turned himself in yesterday, two days after leaving Contarino unconscious on the sidewalk. Contarino had initially told police that he had blacked out, and couldn’t remember who had “gay bashed” him.
Roman is due back in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 24.