An ex-convict wanted by the FBI in connection with two deadly New York City robberies had an unusual message for the public after NYPD officers arrested him Saturday.
“God is good, God is great,” 31-year-old parolee Jesus Acosta said as he was led in handcuffs to Bronx Criminal Court to face charges tied to the fatal incidents.
Acosta had been the focus of a joint FBI and NYPD manhunt after authorities said he fatally shot a married father of two who worked at a wings restaurant in Brooklyn on Aug. 23, then later fired a fatal shot at a customer inside a Bronx deli.
Investigators have not indicated that either killing stemmed from anything other than robbery, police said.
Police said officers with the NYPD arrested Acosta at a Bronx park over the weekend.
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Acosta was still on parole after being released from state prison April 23 following 10 years behind bars on assault and felony gun possession charges, according to online records.
His deadly killing spree began when he shot beloved hard-working wings-eatery employee MD Yousef, 44, in the head during a heist. Yousef died at the hospital, police said.
Within 48 hours, Acosta pulled off another armed robbery at a bodega on 149th Street, where he shot and killed 33-year-old Tayvon Shuler, cops said..
The FBI posted a $25,000 reward for the accused career criminal, while United Bodegas of America, a Big Apple-based advocacy group for small food retailers, put up another $10,000, and Acosta was nabbed in the park Saturday.
He was led out of the 43rd Precinct in The Bronx in cuffs hours later, ignoring questions from reporters outside the stationhouse before he blurted out his bizarre first public comments.