NY police have taken a man in for questioning in connection with the shooting death of an Imam and his assistant in Queens over the weekend.
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He also was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
But police said there is no evidence so far to support that. The cyclist took down the car’s license plate number and gave it to police. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.
Video footage posted on YouTube showed dozens of men gathered near the site of the shooting, with one of them telling the crowd that it appeared to be a hate crime, even as police said the motive was still unknown.
He says 10 minutes later, that vehicle also struck a bicyclist 4.8km away in Brooklyn.
The newspaper said the suspect taken into custody Sunday night has not been charged or identified, nor would police confirm that a suspected killer was taken into custody.
Authorities and news reports on Monday said police had taken a “person of interest” into custody on unrelated charges and were interrogating him about the Saturday shootings of Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and his associate, Tharam Uddin, 64.
A service was held on Sunday to remember the two men.
About 1000 people, including New York City’s Mayor, gathered for the prayer service.
“He rammed the detectives’ auto several times in an effort to get away”, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.
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.
Several Muslim groups denounced the attack as a hate crime, citing the fact that Akonjee had hundreds of dollars on him that were not stolen, eliminating the possibility of a robbery. Both men were dressed in traditional Muslim garb at the time of the shooting. He also said the community will get extra police protection.
Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, were shot shortly after leaving the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens.
There are many young families, and residents said they were startled by the shooting, carried out in daylight on a busy street. But as local Muslims struggle cope with what many see as an attack on their faith, some non-Muslims are reaching out with compassion, offering to walk beside their Muslim neighbors to and from the mosque.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations offered a $10,000 reward for any information that could lead to the arrest or conviction fo the perpetrators.
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Thousands gather to pray at caskets of Imam Maulama Akonjee, draped in green top, and Thara Uddin in a municipal parking lot, Monday Aug. 15, 2016, in NY.
