Late Sunday night police detained what the New York Daily News described as a 35-year-old man who was taken into custody because his auto struck a cyclist in the neighborhood shortly after the shootings. Eyewitness News has learned that a 35-year-old man was taken into custody late Sunday after an apparent hit and run in Brooklyn and is being held at the 107th Precinct.
Advertisement
The working-class area where the victims were killed, on the border between Queens and Brooklyn, is home to many Muslim families from Bangladesh.
CAIR said it was offering a $10,000 reward for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.
Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and his assistant imam, 64-year-old Thara Uddin, were walking home from the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque at about 1: 50 p.m on Saturday when they were shot.
The emailed IAC statement announced an outdoor funeral on Monday for the two men in the Ozone Park section of Queens, near the site of the slayings.
Authorities say surveillance footage showed a auto leaving the scene after the shots were fired.
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. The cyclist took down the license plate and reported it to police.
Investigators said on Monday that the vehicle matched the description of one involved in an unsolved hit-and-run crash in Brooklyn.
Investigators are also asking anyone with information to call police.
The men were wearing traditional religious attire when they were shot, and others in the community said they’ve been targeted by anti-Muslim comments.
After the ceremony, part of the crowd marched to the spot a few blocks away where the shooting took place.
The daylight slaying of a mosque leader and his associate set off fear and anguish Sunday among Bangladeshi Muslims in a New York City neighborhood, with some saying the killings appear to be an anti-Muslim hate crime. But.
Police say so far nothing indicates that the two men were targeted due to their faith, but members of the Muslim community have called the attack a hate crime.
Monir Chowdhury, who worshipped daily with the two men, said he had moved to the community because of its large Bangladeshi immigrant population, but in recent months had been harassed by people shouting anti-Muslim epithets.
Advertisement
Funeral prayers for the imam, Maulama Akonjee, and his assistant, Thara Uddin, were scheduled for Monday afternoon. A police sketch of a suspect showed a man with dark hair, a beard and glasses who was described as having a medium complexion.
