Justifiable Homicide? Man’s Charges Are Reduced

Caked blood stains that once smeared the lobby and an elevator at the Claremont Village apartment building in the Bronx have been scrubbed away after a killing that took place there this week — one that has gained attention across the country.

On Monday, Mamadou Diallo, 61, beat and killed his wife’s would-be rapist with a tire iron in an elevator of their Washington Avenue building, according to law enforcement officials.

Police Department officials said that at approximately 9:26 p.m., Earl Nash, a 43-year-old ex-convict, shoved his way into the apartment of Nenegale Diallo with the intent of raping of her. After her struggle with the man, the 51-year-old Guinea native phoned her husband. According to officials, Mr. Diallo rushed home and confronted his wife’s attacker with a tire iron in a sixth-floor hallway.

Originally charged with manslaughter by the district attorney’s office, Mr. Diallo now faces reduced assault and weapons charges, after bludgeoning Mr. Nash and leaving him with a fatal head wound.

“He threatened my wife,” said Mr. Diallo, a Lyft driver, in an unedited video released by WABC Channel 7, as he was escorted from the police precinct two days later.

Since his release, Mr. Diallo has remained in his apartment awaiting his next court date. The sound of his television could be heard through his door and into the hallway on Wednesday.

By that time, the scene had changed. Police officers had left, the yellow tape was gone, and the bloodstains had been washed away. The first-floor lobby sparkled, complemented by the fresh lavender-lemon scent of industrial cleaning supplies.

On the sixth floor, where Mr. Diallo first struck Mr. Nash, the hallway was silent as neighbors tried to ignore the press. A West African woman cracked her door open to peer out. In the wake of death, a sense of loyalty and respect lingered throughout the building.

“Diallo is a really nice man,” she said of her neighbor. “He always talked to me. We are from same country. He is a very good man.”