A handgun was found stashed in the wall of the basement apartment of the man suspected of gunning down an imam and his friend as they left evening prayer at a mosque, New York City police said Tuesday.
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Oscar Morel, 35, is charged with two counts of murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
A person who lives near the shooting scene shared with The Associated Press and other media organizations surveillance video that showed a man walking up behind the imam and his associate, shooting them and then walking off. Police said they were reviewing the video.
About 10 minutes later, a vehicle matching that description struck a cyclist three miles away in Brooklyn. Once Morel appeared and was approached by detectives, he allegedly attempted to flee by ramming his truck into a police vehicle.
Morel’s arrest came within hours of the funeral service for the deceased, where over 1,000 people gathered in solidarity.
In a statement, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the killings were being viewed as a possible hate crime.
Mayor Bill de Blasio was in attendance and says there will be extra police presence outside of mosques.
Authorities did not release a motive for the killings, though Boyce said the possibility that the murders were a hate crime is “certainly on the table”.
The killings have shocked the neighbourhood’s Bangladeshi community.
In a press conference, NY mayor Bill de Blasio said he had offered his condolences at the funerals of the two men who were killed in cold blood.
Thousands gather to pray at caskets of Imam Maulama Akonjee, draped in green top, and Thara Uddin in a municipal parking lot, Monday August 15, 2016, in NY.
Detectives immediately entered the vehicle into their database system – and 10 minutes later, there was a reported hit-and-run in Brooklyn involving a bicyclist and a TrailBlazer that matched the description of the killer’s vehicle.
The New York Daily News reports that the incident might have stemmed from an ongoing feud between Muslims and Hispanics in the neighborhood, adding that the “shooting may have been payback after a group of Muslims allegedly attacked some Hispanics a few weeks earlier”.
Outside court Tuesday, the victim’s families urged the DA to bring hate crime charges against Morel. He also said the NYPD’s announcements cause unwarranted trauma and proved to the Muslim community that the law enforcement system is not created to protect them.
But “preliminarily, [police] don’t have a motive for the shooting”, a law-enforcement source insisted.
The funeral for Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin is being held in a municipal parking lot, about six blocks from the crime scene.
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Meanwhile, the funeral of the slain Bangladeshi nationals was conducted in NY where several hundred Muslims gathered.
