People gather for a demonstration Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, in the Queens borough of New York, near a crime scene after the leader of a New York City mosque and an associate were fatally shot as they left afternoon prayers.
Advertisement
This undated photo provided by Abdul Chowdhury, Imam Maulama Akonjee is shown.
Imam Maulama Akonjee was gunned down in broad daylight, along with his friend, Thara Uddin..
Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, were shot shortly after leaving the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens.
Akonjee had been carrying more than $1,000, but the attacker did not take the money, police said.
A young woman looks over the area from the steps of an elevated train station Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, in the Queens borough of New York, near a crime scene after the leader of a New York City mosque and an associate were fatally shot as they left afternoon prayers.
He hasn’t been charged in the shootings.
According to police, video also showed the suspect getting into a black SUV and driving away.
Mayor de Blasio, addressing the funeral, promised that the city would bolster the police presence in the neighborhood even though the motive behind the killings was still unclear. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges. Fortunately the cyclist wasn’t hurt too badly, and police were able to match the auto described in the hit and run – a black GMC Trailblazer – with the vehicle allegedly used by the shooter.
The case has not been classified as a hate crime, and police haven’t said what prompted the brazen daytime shooting.
The New York Police Department arrested a man in Brooklyn on Monday who they believe may be responsible for the killing of an imam and his assistant in Queens on Saturday.
Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce declined to name the man, whom he identified as a 36-year-old Hispanic from East New York. He hasn’t been charged in the double slaying. A person who lives near the shooting scene shared with The Associated Press and other media organizations a 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.
“Detectives were able to develop a strong lead into a suspect very early on based on an unrelated incident that occurred in Brooklyn, approximately 10 minutes after the shooting, three miles away”, the commissioner said.
The suspect was picked up around 11:45 p.m. on Sunday night after he got into a vehicle that police had been watching.
Naima Akonjee, 28, one of the imam’s seven children, said she rushed to her parents’ home after the shooting.
Passions ran hot at a funeral service for the two victims.
At the funeral, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Muslims make NY better and stronger.
The motive of the gunman remains unknown, but the ceremony featured several speakers who said they believed the victims were targeted due to their religion.
“We want justice”, Badrul Kahn, founder of the Al-Furqan mosque and its chief adviser, shouted to the crowd in the service’s opening speech.
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.
Advertisement
“I want you to know that we are all mourning with you”, de Blasio said.
