#Man accused of killing NYC basketball star allegedly strangled his own uncle

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Suspect Najhim Luke (center) leaving the 46th Precinct with detectives after his arrest for the murder of Brandon Hendricks last week in the Bronx.
G.N.Miller/NYPost

The accused killer of Bronx hoops star Brandon Hendricks beat and strangled his own uncle last month, authorities said Monday.

Suspect Najhim Luke, 22 — who was nabbed and charged Monday with murdering the 17-year-old college basketball prospect — also faces raps for allegedly attacking his relative in June in the days leading up to Hendricks’ death, police said.

In addition to being charged with Hendricks’ murder, Luke was hit with assault and strangulation raps Monday for two incidents involving his uncle: one in which he struck the older man in the face with an unknown object June 10, and the other June 22, when he put his hands around his relative’s throat, authorities said.

Luke lived with his uncle on Walton Avenue in The Bronx.

The slay suspect also was previously arrested in November 2014, when he was 17, for allegedly joining two cohorts in beating a victim before swiping his black Gucci belt.

NYPD Assistant Chief Jason Wilcox told reporters Monday in announcing the murder charge against Luke, “I want to take you back a little bit to June 28, a very tragic murder in The Bronx in the confines of the 46 Precinct, a young man, 17 years old, Brandon Hendricks, killed having just graduated high school on the threshold of going to what everyone seemed to agree was an amazing future, killed with gun violence.

“The detectives of the 46 Precinct have been working that case relentlessly. That hard work identified a suspect. And the Fugitive Enforcement Unit, particularly our Bronx Violent Felony Squad, had been working hard to apprehend that suspect, and they did so this morning.”