MTA killer hunted
‘Insecure coward’ hunted in MTA gal slay
THE SPURNED ex-boyfriend of MTA conductor Jacqueline Dicks picked her up at work, drove her back home — and coolly pumped a .40-caliber bullet into her head.
A manhunt continued Wednesday for Zire King after surveillance video exposed the accused killer’s version of the street execution as a total fabrication, police said.
The cold-blooded King walked up behind the unsuspecting mother of six and fired into the back of her head, sources said. The weapon was later found in the trunk of his silver 2009 Mercedes-Benz.
“Zire King was a jealous, controlling, insecure coward of a man,” said the slain woman’s oldest daughter, Tatiana Dicks, 24. “I hate him for taking such a beautiful soul from her family and friends.”
King, 44, emerged as the prime suspect in the Brooklyn shooting one day after he was questioned and released by detectives. The video recovered from the East New York neighborhood exposed King as both a liar and the likely killer.
He claimed there were three men in hoodies running from the crime scene, along with a dark-colored car speeding away once a gunshot rang out at 11:40 p.m. on Monday. The headlights, King told cops, blinded him as the trio ran past.
But video showed King engaging in conversation with someone after the shooting and then returning to his car on Elton St. near Cozine Ave.
“There was no three males . . . running in the street with hoods up. There was none of that,” said NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce. “It was a false narrative.”
A search warrant turned up the .40-caliber handgun in his car trunk along with Dicks’ bag — which held the 41-year-old victim’s phone. King went on the run immediately after the NYPD turned him loose, never returning to his home, Boyce said.
The NYPD’s fugitive task force was leading the search for the murder suspect.
Tatiana Dicks told the Daily News that her mother dumped King after five years of dating.
“Yes, they were breaking up,” she said.
Another family member heard from other relatives that King, who had a child with Dicks, was physically abusive with the firstyear conductor.
“Everything I heard was nothing good,” she said. “He would assault her. (The family) was wondering why he wasn’t at the house Tuesday.” King was instead on the lam. The suspect has a dozen prior arrests, all but one of them sealed. The unsealed arrest was for possession of stolen property in 1992. A police source said cops have investigated King for domestic incidents — although none involved Dicks.
The couple’s 4-yearold son remained unaware of his mother’s death or his father’s flight. The boy’s older siblings were taking care of the child as the family planned the funeral for Dicks, whose children ranged in age from 4 to 24. “He’s 4,” Tatiana Dicks said of her little brother. “He doesn’t understand.”
Transport Workers Union Local 100, which counted Dicks as a member, sent out an email blast with King’s mug shot to its 42,000 members in hopes that someone might spot the suspect. “We have full confidence in the NYPD,” said union Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips. “We hope they soon catch the bastard and put him in a jail cell where he belongs.”
A Metropolitan Transportation Authority co-worker said Dicks shared a close relationship with King before things fell apart. “She actually loved the dude,” the co-worker said. “I guess it was issues he had within himself. To have somebody like that, and then you do something like that — there’s something going on deep inside of you that’s messed up.”
Dicks, who joined the MTA last June, loved her job and became popular among her colleagues.
She was headed home from her 3 p.m.-to-11 p.m. shift, with King picking her up at the Ditmars Blvd. subway station in Astoria, Queens. The two exited the car together after he parked on Elton St.
The wanted man told cops that he headed to the store while Dicks walked toward her home. A single gunshot crackled through the night.
Dicks’ brother Tyrone, 55, immediately suggested the shooting was premeditated — and it sseems like he was right.
“It wasn’t a robbery,” he said. “It was personal.”