Pastor Tried To Hand Subway Slay Suspect Directly To NYC Mayor: Report

NEW YORK CITY — A Brooklyn pastor with longstanding ties to Eric Adams tried to orchestrate the handover of subway slaying suspect Andrew Abdullah directly to the mayor, but his plans were foiled when cops ran out of patience, according to reports.

The plan allegedly brokered by Bishop Lamor Whitehead was detailed by him in a New York Post report, and largely corroborated in a New York Daily News report.

Whitehead's reported plan was to have Abdullah turn himself in to the 5th Precinct, with Adams present. But, instead, an NYPD task force arrested Abdullah in front of his lawyers' office Tuesday — an arrest that put a chaotic end to the manhunt for a suspect who fatally shot Daniel Enriquez, 48, in an unprovoked attack on the Q train Sunday.

When Adams appeared at a news conference announcing Abdullah's arrest, he immediately faced questions about Whitehead's involvement in surrender negotiations.

"We're not going to do or say anything that's going to interfere with the prosecution of this dangerous person," Adams said.

Abdullah is being held without bail after his arraignment Wednesday on murder and weapon charges, according to court records.

He's accused of being the man seen pacing and muttering to himself on a Q train that crossed the Manhattan Bridge on Sunday morning. Witnesses said the man then pulled out a gun and shot Enriquez in the chest without provocation, authorities said.

Police tied Abdullah, a reputed gang member with a long criminal history, to the shooting after reviewing surveillance footage and tracking down the murder weapon, which the suspect had handed off to a homeless man, authorities said.

As the manhunt amped up, Abdullah apparently linked up with Whitehead, who told the Post that Abdullah's family attends his church.

Whitehead is the founder of Leaders of Tomorrow International Churches in Canarsie who calls himself a mentee of Adams on the organization's website. He unsuccessfully tried to run for Adams' former post as Brooklyn's borough president.

In Whitehead's telling to the Post, he called Adams and tried to arrange Abdullah's surrender without getting lawyers involved.

Hours after Abdullah was identified as a suspect Tuesday, conflicting reports surfaced that he either surrendered at the Chinatown police precinct or failed to turn up. Whitehead, who showed up in a Rolls Royce, only added to the confusion.

Abdullah had gone to the offices of The Legal Aid Society, where police took him in to custody in an arrest that lawyers sharply criticized.

The Daily News reported that the arrest, rather than a direct surrender to Adams, occurred because police ran out of patience.

The arrest also spared the mayor a potentially tricky situation in which he could be called as witness, the Daily News reported. Police sources also told the Daily News that they worried about the precedent it would send to have a murder suspect surrender to the mayor.