Naima Akonjee, 28, one of the imams seven children, said she rushed to her parents home after the shooting.
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Imam, Associate Gunned Down on Street in Queens: PoliceThe leader of a mosque in Queens and his associate were shot and killed Saturday afternoon after leaving their place of worship.
Meanwhile, the ACLU reported that in New York City alone there have been at least five incidents of hate crime this year.
A NY neighbourhood teetered on edge Sunday as it struggled to pinpoint the motives behind a gunman’s fatal daytime attack on an imam and his assistant near their mosque.
The victims, identified as Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, were both wearing religious garb at the time of shooting, police said.
“He always wants peace”, Akonjee’s son, Naim Akonjee, 21, said of his father through tears.
The video shows them in traditional Muslim clothing, walking near the corner of Liberty Avenue and 79th Street in Ozone Park when the killer rushes up behind them at around 2 p.m. Saturday.
The mayor’s office said the New York Police Department was exploring all potential motives, including the possibility of a hate crime.
“The perpetrator of these senseless killings must be swiftly apprehended and face the full force of the law”, Afaf Nasher, executive director of the NY chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement.
Monir Chowdhury, who worshipped daily with the two men, said he had moved to the community because of its large Bangladeshi immigrant population, but in recent months has been harassed by people shouting anti-Muslim epithets. Police described him as having a medium complexion.
Chowdhury said he has felt the mood in the neighborhood change drastically in the last few months and accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of spreading anti-Muslim rhetoric.
The most recent USA attack, in June, was a shooting that killed at least 50 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.
“While we do not yet know the motivation for the murders, we do know that our Muslim communities are in the perpetual crosshairs of bigotry”, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “It remains critical that we work to bridge the divides that threaten to undermine the greatness of our city and country”.
The Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Shahriar Alam, posted a message on Twitter calling the shooting a “cowardly act on peace-loving people”. On Sunday afternoon, several officers were stationed outside the mosque.
The U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh, Marcia Bernicat, also decried the violence, saying Imam Maulama Akonjee “stood for peace”.
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Yesterday a service was held in remembrance of the two men.
