This is a developing story and will be updated as more details are made available.
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Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, were shot shortly after leaving the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens.
The gunman approached the two men from behind. You don’t walk up behind someone, even from 5 feet, and just get two head shots.
CCTV footage of the incident shows a man creeping up from behind them as the pair left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque, and shoot them both in the head.
They were transported in critical condition to Jamaica Hospital, where they later died, according to Sautner.
As the families of a slain New York City mosque leader and his associate make funeral arraignments and continue their quest for answers in the shooting, a Muslim advocacy group is set to announce a reward for.
Police arrested the man, who had not yet been charged, after tracking him through an old-model Chevy Trailblazer similar to the one the killer was spotted getting into at the scene of the crime.
The shooting took place on a very busy street, and in broad daylight.
US Representative Nydia Velazquez tweeted that she was “horrified” by the shooting.
“I have never felt this kind of tension”, said Nizam Uddin, 57, a taxi driver who said he knew both the cleric and his associate. “We feel really insecure and unsafe in a moment like this”.
Ozone Park resident Nazrul Islam said one of his neighbors and four other people attacked him, knocking out one of his teeth and causing other injuries.
“I’ve had to rent a garage for the past couple of weeks”, he said.
New York Police Department spokesman Stephen Davis says the man is in custody on an unrelated incident and there have been no arrests related to the shooting. “Let’s let the police do their work and try to keep politics out of this”.
And he may have left behind another victim who unwittingly held the clue that solved the crime, the sources said.
Video from a home security system in Ozone Park obtained by authorities showed the murders of 55-year-old imam Maulama Akonjee and his 64-year-old friend and assistant Thara Uddin. “Our community’s heart is broken”.
Police said they received multiple 911 calls of two males being shot at the corner of Liberty Avenue and 79 Street around 1.50pm (Saturday). “Everyone is emotionally hurt … everyone is afraid right now”.
A leader of another mosque in the area, Kobir Chowdhury, said religious intolerance was to blame for the attack.
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The latest violence comes after several police officers were targeted and shot dead across the nation in recent weeks following an outcry over the deaths of unarmed African Americans at the hands of police. She said her father had no known enemies. “We need to know if they did this just because of our religion”.
