Accused Murderer May Have Posed as Lawyer, Written Asylum Letters

The man charged with murdering his mother in a parking lot outside St. Mark Orthodox Coptic Church in Burr Ridge may have posed as an attorney and helped Egyptian church members write letters of asylum, according to a report from The Doings. 

The DuPage State's Attorney's Office alleges that 27-year-old Michael Zaky Bassaly, of the 2000 block of Prentiss Drive, Downers Grove, shot his mother, Yvonne Bassaly, early Thursday morning in the parking lot of the preschool at St. Mark on 79th Street.

READ: Thursday's Shooting 1st Murder in Burr Ridge History

St. Mark pastor Samuel T. Samuel said last week that neither Bassaly was a member at St. Mark, but The Doings quoted a church member and a church attorney who said that the former law student may have been helping church members seeking asylum from Egypt gain legal status in the U.S. 

Read the full Doings story here.

As Patch reported last week, DuPage County prosecutors said during Bassaly's bond hearing that the Department of Homeland Security had been investigating Bassaly in connection with fake documents for asylum that were in Bassaly's possession.

A letter written by Bassaly inside the car was addressed to the FBI, saying that Bassaly was going to kill himself and also his mother to protect her from "the investigation," the prosecutors said.

READ: Dept. of Homeland Security Investigating Man Charged With Murdering Mom

Bassaly told police that he shared with his 62-year-old mother his plans to die, and afterward she said they should go pray at St. Mark's. If his intention was to kill her, then he should do it, Bassaly said his mother told him. But he would later give conflicting statements, saying that the gun just went off.

Charles Menchaca contributed to this report.