Speaking to reporters at Queens County Criminal Court ahead of Morel’s appearance, Uddin’s brother, Mashuk Uddin, said the families of both victims were devastated by their deaths.
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The suspect in the shooting deaths of a Queens imam and his associate pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder Tuesday.
In this video image provided by WABC-TV, New York police officers walk with Oscar Morel, center, of Brooklyn, in New York on Monday, Aug. 16, 2016.
“It’s the most horrendous and despicable act that can only be described as a cold-blooded and premeditated assassination”, prosecutor Peter McCormack told the court as relatives of the victims looked on.
Morel initially was charged in connection with the hit-and-run, but those charges were upgraded on Monday night after police said they recovered a revolver at his Brooklyn home and clothes similar to those worn by the gunman in the surveillance video.
“Regardless, however, whether a hate crime was committed in this case, the crime will be vigorously prosecuted and we will seek the most serious penalties that our law allows”.
Robert Boyce, chief of detectives for the New York Police Department, told reporters Monday that Mr. Morel’s black GMC Trailblazer matched the description of the getaway auto used in the shooting of Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin near the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque.
Morel was originally arrested Sunday night on charges related to a hit-and-run accident, some five kilometres from the spot of the murders, and the assault of a police officer, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told mediapersons.
Morel faces the possibility of life in prison without parole if he is convicted of killing Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64.
The two men were gunned down in NY over the weekend, police said.
A Brooklyn man has been charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the shooting deaths of a NY imam and his assistant, prosecutors said Tuesday.
No plea was entered and he was ordered held without bail.
The Hate Crimes unit is helping with the investigation, but police say that there is no reason to believe the incident was a hate crime at this point. That’s when police say Morel intentionally rammed his vehicle into an unmarked police cruiser.
The vehicle is what led police to Morel.
The killings have shocked the neighbourhood’s Bangladeshi community.
“Two people just got murdered and NYPD saying this might not be a hate crime”, mourner Muhammad Ali said.
“This is a bad crime he did”, Uddin’s brother, Mashuk Uddin, added. “This is a bad crime”.
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“I want to know why he killed him”, he said of Morel. “He’s a good guy”.
