Passions ran hot at a funeral service Monday for the two victims.
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“While we do not yet know the motivation for the murders of Maulana Akonjee and Thara Uddin, we do know that our Muslim communities are in the perpetual crosshairs of bigotry”, Mayor Bill De Blasio said in a statement.
A police official who spoke with The New York Times on the condition of anonymity said he felt the shooting was planned and the victims targeted, although the official did not give clear thoughts on a possible motive.
A large group of local residents, religious leaders and other members of the Muslim-American community gathered near a NY mosque this weekend and called for justice.
“We want justice”, the mosque’s founder said hours before the call was repeated at the funeral. But Boyce said surveillance footage from Saturday showed the man speeding away from the scene of the shooting near a Queens mosque in a black GMC Trailblazer. The cyclist was able to note down the car’s licence plate and passed the information to police.
The man intentionally bumped their vehicle with his auto before he was placed in handcuffs, they said.
Some mosque-goers said the shooting was a hate crime, but police say there is as yet no evidence the men were targeted due to their faith.
The police circulated a sketch of a man wearing glasses and described the suspect as an adult male with a medium complexion and a beard who was seen on a video wearing a dark-colored shirt and blue shorts.
Mia Parvez, 57, of Brooklyn, said the shootings had created a climate of fear in the Muslim community.
The two were gunned down and killed on Saturday near the al-Furqan Masjid Mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens by a lone gunman, who shot both men in the head, police said.
“We’re looking at him for both crimes”, Boyce said. “We want justice”, responded the mourners, a lot of them men dressed in Islamic garb. “An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us”.
The suspect was picked up around 11:45 p.m. on Sunday night after he got into a vehicle that police had been watching. NBC reported the man being questioned matched the description.
Members of the NYPD, the mayor said, would be out in full force protecting community institutions and protecting Muslim communities all over the city. The men were attacked a couple of blocks from the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque, from where they had just left afternoon prayers. NY news media have reported that the mosque serves many foreign-born worshipers. Residents have demanded that authorities treat the brazen daylight shooting as a hate crime.
“Somebody has taken the law in their own hands”, said Mr Uddin, who is not related to Thara Uddin.
“People aren’t messing with other people”, Lopez aid.
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“The community’s heart is totally broken”, he said.
