Police arrested and charged Morel with murder late Monday night in the brazen daytime shooting deaths of an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque.
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Akonjee’s son, Foyez Uddin, who isn’t related to the other victim, tells The Associated Press in Bangladesh that his father and mother had booked flights for August 31 to visit the elder man’s mother.
This undated photo provided by Abdul Chowdhury, Imam Maulama Akonjee is shown.
Police have arrested a 35-year-old Brooklyn man for allegedly shooting an imam and another man following prayers at a mosque in Queens.
“I assured the members of the Bangladeshi and the Muslim community all over this city that the killer will be brought to justice”, he said, adding the police were well on their way to bringing justice to the community that “is hurting so deeply right now”.
Residents of Ozone Park were shaken by the attack, which happened in broad daylight.
Akonjee was carrying US$1,000 with him at the time of the attack but the money was not taken, the New York Times reported.
The double killing came just moments after prayers concluded at the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque.
Morel has been charged with murdering an imam, Maulama Akonjee, 55, and his friend Thara Uddin, 64.
Global desk -Investigators have charged a 32-year old man for killing a Bangladeshi-born Imam and his assistance in NY, police said on Tuesday.
Morel was arrested outside a flat in Brooklyn on Sunday after he intentionally rammed his vehicle into an unmarked police cruiser trying to block him in, police said. “He was placed under arrest without any further incident”, Boyce said.
Police say after the murders, Morel was driving a black SUV that hit a cyclist about three miles away.
Also on Monday, hundreds of mourners gathered for an Islamic funeral service for the two victims.
Mohammed Nuruzzaman, 31, said the community was anxious to know more about why the men were targeted.
“We want justice”, Badrul Kahn, founder of the Al-Furqan mosque, shouted to the crowd in the service’s opening speech.
Mayor Bill de Blasio told those there the entire city was “mourning with you”.
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Police haven’t determined a motive for the killing, Boyce said, but haven’t ruled it out as a hate crime. “The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the gun was found inside a wall in his apartment, on Miller Avenue in the East New York neighborhood, in a cavity that had apparently been cut open and resealed”. There was no immediate information on an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
