By Sadef Ali Kully
The angry man who murdered his ex-girlfriend in the parking lot of Resorts World Casino Tuesday before being killed by police in Brooklyn sent threatening text messages to her family members after he shot her, police said.
According to police, ex-convict Dalton Branch, 51, from Brooklyn, shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, Patricia Mohammed,55, from Brooklyn, after an altercation in the parking lot of Resorts World Casino in South Ozone Park, where shots rang out. Police were called to the scene after the incident and found Mohammed with gunshot wounds to the torso. She was taken to Jamaica Hospital by emergency services and pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. Her boyfriend, who was near Mohammed and also shot at by Branch, was not injured, the NYPD said.
After an initial investigation, police said that a white Dodge Charger was identified as the vehicle that Branch used to flee the scene.
In a press conference near the Brooklyn scene where police fatally shot Branch in a shoot-out, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said police had used his cell phone site data to track him down while he was texting and calling Mohammed’s relatives with taunting and threatening messages such as calling himself the “grim reaper.”
Branch was tracked by Queens Warrant Squad, a sergeant, detective, and police officer, all in plainclothes, who were operating a white unmarked department van and located the vehicle fitting the description outside a parking lot on 875 Pennsylvania Ave. in Brooklyn, police said. When the officers approached the vehicle, Branch started firing shots and police fired back, thhe NYPD said. Branch, who suffered 15 gunshot wounds, was taken to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Police said they recovered a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun, shell casings and a box of ammunition at the scene in Brooklyn.
Reach Reporter Sadef Ali Kully by e-mail at skull
