New York City Parks Department employee accused of killing migrant reportedly launched shocking anti-immigration tirade: “This is our country”

A city parks employee accused of gunning down a Venezuelan migrant in a Brooklyn park unleashed a shocking tirade after his arrest – claiming he was merely “pissing off” when the shots were fired, new court documents show.

Elijah Mitchell, a 23-year-old seasonal worker, reportedly delivered a xenophobic tirade to investigators after he was arrested for the July 21 shooting death of Arturo Jose Rodriguez Marcano. Marcano had been camping with other asylum seekers at Steuben Playground near two dilapidated shelters in Clinton Hill.

“I don't have time to let an immigrant ruin my life,” Mitchell told police officers, according to documents filed when he was arraigned on hate murder charges in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Wednesday.

“The government let them come here and they get $1,500 a month. They get free money every month,” he continued. “You work for your money, right? You were all born here. This is your country. This is our country.”

Prosecutors allege that Mitchell lost his temper days before the fatal shooting when he was tasked with cleaning a park near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway where migrants from nearby shelters had set up tents.

Mitchell, of Corona, Queens, reportedly began screaming and tearing down tarps before he was confronted by 30-year-old Rodriguez Marcano, which led to an altercation, police said.

He then went to his car and when he returned, lifted up his shirt and showed a gun tucked into his waistband to intimidate his victim, prosecutors said at his arraignment.

Mitchell allegedly denied owning a weapon more than 20 times in his statement to police and claimed that the migrants in the park – some “Spanish [and] “Africans” – became “belligerent” when a worker asked them to remove their clothes from the area.

“I left because they were aggressive,” Mitchell reportedly said of the July 18 altercation. He then claimed that the migrants “started reaching for weapons and stuff” before chasing him.

Three nights later, prosecutors said, Mitchell returned to the park outside of work hours to shoot Rodriguez Marcano once in the chest.

However, Mitchell claimed he was passing by the park after a barbecue when he heard a “pop.”

“It's a public park. I had to pee. I just came from the barbecue. I peed,” Mitchell reportedly told investigators, adding that he ran out of the park when he heard the gunshot.

“When I got out of there and looked at the Citizen app, it said people had been shot outside that damn shelter,” he claimed.

Rodriguez Marcano died less than 30 minutes after being admitted to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, police said.

Mitchell was arrested on July 30 and suspended from the park service.

At his arraignment on Wednesday, he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, including second-degree premeditated murder as a hate crime, second-degree premeditated murder and illegal possession of a firearm.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Danny Chun ordered Mitchell held on $350,000 bail and is due back in court on October 23.

“This defendant allegedly came armed to the location where the victim was staying to settle a score,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. “This premeditated and cold-blooded murder is egregious on many levels, not least because the alleged motive was hatred toward newcomers to our city.”

A lawyer for Mitchell did not respond to an email Wednesday.