[Updated] Man Allegedly Murders His Cousin Inside Their Ditmas Park Apartment

[Update 1/26 9:30am: Osama Osman, 42, has been arrested and charged with murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon.]

This morning, cops found a man beaten to death inside his Ditmas Park apartment. The victim’s cousin, who was also his roommate, was taken into custody for the murder.

Cops found the body of Fatahelrhman Omer, 53, on January 25 just before 11am at 380 East 18th Street near Cortelyou Road. Omer had severe trauma to his head and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Omer’s cousin is in police custody and the crime is under investigation. The two cousins, originally from Sudan, had been living together for 10 years, said friends.

The perpetrator claimed that he stabbed his cousin in self-defense, police sources told BKLYNER. The victim had allegedly been harassing him for a long time, though friends said they seemed to have an amicable relationship.

A friend said that the victim had been missing from work for two days before someone came knocking at his 5th-floor apartment door. “When they knocked on the door a person inside yelled Fata is dead! Call the cops!'” said Nazzara Ali, a friend to both cousins.

Omer, who is from Sudan, recently got married and leaves behind an infant son in Sudan.

“He was planning to go back home soon to visit his son,” said Ali. “[Fata was] a mechanic, very helpful, very quiet. Always smiling, never harmed nobody.”

Ali had never seen any trouble between the cousins, until lately when the murder suspect became withdrawn. “He disappeared from our soccer team, disappeared from our mosque. Something changed in him and we don’t know what happened,” he said.

This afternoon, neighbors were milling about the lobby, comparing stories and rumors while cops passed through. As of 3:30pm, the victim’s body was still inside the 5th-floor apartment.

One neighbor who wished to remain anonymous told BKLYNER that it was normal to see cops in this lobby, patrolling for kids smoking weed.

Muhalla Butt, who was picking up his son from the bus stop, lives across the hall from the cousins. “I can’t believe this happened in my building, in front of my apartment,” he said.

Correction: In an earlier version of this story we wrote that the victim had been stabbed, but later received new information that it was more likely an assault with a different weapon.