Price claimed he carried out the murders in revenge for the September 11 attacks and said he was driven to kill by a paranoid hatred of Arabs.
[4] Prior to the murders, Price was an unemployed father of two children, who lived in Crown Heights with his girlfriend, who was expecting his third child.
[5] On February 8, 2003, Price shot and killed 42-year-old John Freddy, a Guyana native of Indian descent, at a convenience store in Queens, New York.
Freddy was killed as he drank coffee at the Central Mini Market in Ozone Park, which was located just across the street from the supermarket he worked in.
[6][7] A surveillance camera showed a man in a dark coat, baseball cap, and hooded sweatshirt shooting Freddy from behind the ear.
[8] Two hours later, Price robbed the Around the Clock Minimart in Mill Basin, Brooklyn, killing 50-year-old Sukhjit "Sammy" Khajala, an Indian immigrant working as the store's cashier.
[9] On March 10, Price shot and killed 32-year-old Albert Kotlyar, a Ukrainian immigrant who worked as a manager at Laundry King Superstore in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
[9][10] Ten days later, on March 20, Price shot and killed 54-year-old Mohammed Ali Nassir, a Yemeni immigrant, at the Stop II Food Market in Crown Heights.
"[2] Police initially also tied Price to a fifth murder on March 1, 2003, when 37-year-old Marc Zanichelli was shot during a robbery at his auto shop in Brooklyn.
[16][17] After his arrest, it was learned that on March 9, a day before the Kotlyar murder, Price had been taken to the Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center for help by his own mother, however, he was released that same night.
[24] On July 21, 2008, Price filed a pro se motion challenging his conviction, which was denied four times by Kings County Supreme Court between 2008 and 2010.