The former resident of a New York homeless shelter allegedly murdered the manager of the facility, after he sexually assaulted her at gun point and shot her as she fled the scene naked, police have said, according to the Independent.
Officers have charged West Spruill, 39, with murder, after Ana Charle, 36, was killed on Monday evening in the Bronx.
Ms Charle, a mother of two originally from Barcelona, Spain, was walking to her car in the 108-bed Project Renewal Shelter at around 6pm, when Spruill allegedly sexually assaulted her in her car.
As Ms Charle fled naked from the car, police say an also unclothed Spruill shot her three times in the head and chest on Bullard Avenue, near the shelter she ran.
Spruill then put his clothes back on and walked away, witnesses told police according to the New York Times.
Police arrested Spruill shortly after at a car wash, and charged him with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. An autopsy carried out on Ms Charle’s body will soon reveal whether the woman was raped.
A police officer told the New York Times that Spruill shot Ms Charle at “close range”.
“This is as bad a homicide as I’ve seen,” the official said.
This article was originally published in the Independent.
