Prosecutor: Mahwah Killer Worked With Victim At Local Gas Station

Milan Ghimire was nabbed in the Bronx by members of the NYPD Emergency Services Unit after killing 56-year-old Phu Tsewang, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Tuesday.

The two men worked together at a local gas station, the prosecutor said.

Ghimire remained held at the 45th Precinct in the Bronx and will be held pending extradition proceedings. He'll face charges of murder, weapons possession and evidence tampering in Superior Court in Hackensack.

Ghimire fled the rented home at 26 Avenue A in West Mahwah after shooting Tsewang several times shortly after 9:30 p.m., authorities said.

He was driving a black Chrysler with Mississippi license plates, law enforcement sources said.

Township police called to the home by another resident found the body a short time later, they said.

Responders along with township police included detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Major Crimes Unit, the Bergen County Medical Examiner and the Bergen County Sheriff's Bureau of Criminal Identification, which collected evidence.

A Bergen County Regional SWAT team was called but not needed once police arrived at the 1,760-square-foot home in a residential neighborhood between Route 202 and Route 17, within walking distance of the gas station.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Detectives interviewed other laborers who shared the residence and were at home at the time of the shooting, law enforcement sources said.

Meanwhile, a cellphone in the vehicle was pinged to several locations in Rockland County, including Washington Avenue in Suffern and the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack, they said.

Mahwah police and detectives from Musella's Major Crimes Unit eventually headed to the Bronx.

There they participated in the eventual capture with the NYPD's Emergency Service Unit (ESU), a division of the department's Special Operations Bureau that is comprised of officers equipped and specially trained in tactical operations, among other responsibilities.

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