Update: Suspect in Murder of Stamford Cabbie Held on $1 Million Bond

Update: 1:49 p.m., Aug. 28:

Stamford Police say “through narcotics and organized crime sources, precise intel” helped lead investigators to arrest a Georgian national on a charge first-degree murder charge within hours of the “brutal stabbing’ of a Stamford Taxi driver.

Capt. Richard Conklin said that the suspect was arrested about 13 hours after cabbie Mahomed Kamal, was found on the front lawn of a vacant home at 150 Doolittle Rd. by a landscaping crew about 8:30 a.m. Aug. 27. His Lincoln Town Car was found nearby, crashed into the woods of the dead-end road, according to police.

Conklin said that the intelligence police obtained led them to identify Shota Mekoshvili, 29, a Republic of Georgia national who lives in downtown Stamford, as the suspect. He said that when members of the department’s Special Response Team descended upon the home he shared with a girlfriend, Mekoshvili had left and the couple’s belongings were packed inside their car.

A short time later, police found Mekoshvili on Bedford Street and after a foot chase, an officer was able to use a Taser to take down Mekoshvili. Police found the suspect had several wounds to his hands, face and head, indicating he was involved in a “violent struggle” with Kamal. Two officers suffered hamstring injuries during the chase, police said.

Kamal was a married father of a three-and-a-half-year-old, police said. When her husband didn’t return home from work on Wednesday, the wife went to Stamford Police headquarters to file a missing person report at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Conklin said. An hour-and-a-half later, he was found dead.

Lt. Diedrich Hohn said the two men apparently had a previous encounter but did not elaborate. “We do not believe this was a random attack. We do not believe the community and the cab community is in any danger. We assure the community they should feel safe.”

Hohn would not say whether Mekoshvili had any of Kamal’s belongings in his possession when he was arrested in the area of Bedford and Forest streets. He did say that a resident found a credit card belonging to Kamal in the area of Long Ridge Road, near Doolittle. The murder weapon, believed to be some type of knife, has not been recovered.

Police asked that if anyone in that area had seen anything suspicious Wednesday night after 3 a.m. to call the SPD detective bureau at 203-977-4421.

Mekoshvili is being held on $1 million bond and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at state Superior Court in Stamford.

Patch will update the story as more details become available.

Original story: 9:17 a.m. Aug. 28

Stamford Police have made an arrest in the stabbing death of cab driver Mahomed Kamal.

Kamal, 47, a Stamford Taxi driver, was stabbed multiple times in his Lincoln Town Car cab during what may have been a robbery early Wednesday, police said in a statement. His body was found on the front lawn of 150 Doolittle Road by a landscaping crew about 8:30 a.m. Aug. 27. His Town Car was found nearby, crashed into the woods of the dead-end road, according to police.

About midnight, police announced the arrest by posting a comment on the press release on the Stamford Police Department Facebook page. “Stamford Police Department CT “Suspect in custody, press release will be given in the morning.” Details on the arrest are expected to be released at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

Kamal, who stabbed multiple times in his torso area, was pronounced dead at the scene and an autopsy is to be performed by the office of the Chief State Medical Examiner to determine the cause of death.

According to NBC Connecticut, the stabbing happened sometime after 3 a.m. because Kamal had spoken to his wife by phone before that, according to police.

Stamford police spokesman Lt. Diedrich Hohn described Kamal’s death as “very violent.”

“It looks like there was a struggle because he had some wounds on his hands, which led us to believe he was fighting for his life,” Hohn told NBC.

Police said Kamal’s wife filed a missing person report around 7 a.m. when she couldn’t reach her husband.

Photo: Shota Mekoshvili. Credit: Stamford Police.