A Downers Grove man under investigation by Homeland Security killed his mother outside a southwest suburban church on Thursday morning to protect her, prosecutors said Friday.
Michael Zaky Bassaly, 27, was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of his mother, Yvonne Zaky Bassaly. The 61-year-old woman was found slain Thursday morning in the parking lot of Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Burr Ridge.
In court on Friday, Bassaly stood straight-faced and silent as Judge Daniel Guerin ordered him held without bond and demanded the Egyptian citizen surrender his passport.
Prosecutors played the 911 tape of Bassaly reporting the shooting around 1 a.m. He is heard frantically crying, "I shot my mom, I shot her brains, please call an ambulance." During the four-minute call he claims, "My mom wanted me to do it. She made me do it."
A single shot killed the woman, prosecutors said. Police found her in the rear seat of a silver Cadillac with a bullet wound to the head. Authorities said Bassaly admitted he planned to kill his mother and then himself, saying he had to kill her to protect her.
Bassaly had left an envelope on the car dashboard with letters explaining he had written hundreds of fake asylum applications for Homeland Security and his conscience had gotten to him, prosecutors said. He said if he didn't kill them someone from the Egyptian community would.
He said his mother wanted to go to the church to pray but prosecutors said Bassaly had already planned their deaths.
Homeland Security confirmed Michael Bassaly did not work for them and they had received numerous complaints about him and his fake asylum applications. Department officials said they began investigating Bassaly on Tuesday, just two days before his mother was slain.
The next court date for Bassaly was scheduled for Sept. 9.
