“There is nothing in the preliminary investigation that would indicate they were targeted due to their faith”, NY police Deputy Inspector Henry Sautner told reporters Saturday.
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Morel was also charged with a hit and run.
He was ordered held without bail. Morel was arrested outside a Brooklyn apartment after he intentionally rammed his vehicle into an unmarked police cruiser trying to block him in, Boyce said. Many locals wondered what could have prompted his killing. Police sources said the killer may have been settling a score in a feud between Muslims and Hispanics but these suggestions have been dismissed by members of the Muslim community. He remembered the imam as a good man who had delivered a eulogy at the mosque the day before. He was handcuffed and wore leg shackles.
“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.
The motive for the murders has not yet been determined.
Members of the mosque, which largely serves migrants from Bangladesh, were adamant that it was a hate crime.
He’s accused of fatally shooting Imam Maulana Akonjee and his friend Thara Uddin as they walked home on Liberty Avenue and 79th Street following afternoon prayer on August 13, the NYPD said.
Brown said Tuesday that investigators might conclude that the shooting was a hate crime, but he added that the case will be “vigorously prosecuted” regardless. But he says regardless of whether that’s the case, the killings will be “vigorously prosecuted”.
The duo, who were walking home dressed in Islamic attire after afternoon Zuhr prayers at Al-Furqan Jame Masjid Mosque in the Ozone Park neighbourhood, were approached from behind by a male with medium complexion wearing a dark polo shirt and shorts who shot them multiple times in the head from point-blank range. Although police have not determined a motive in the killings, the Muslim community feels strongly that the men were targeted due to their religion.
Prosecutors are accusing Morel of gunning down Imam Maulama Akonjee and his friend, Thara Uddin.
The suspect, Oscar Morel, 35, was originally arrested Sunday night on charges related to a hit-and-run accident, NYPD Chief of Detectives Bob Boyce said at a press conference.
When police approached his home in East New York, the suspect evaded officers in a vehicle and struck a police auto in the process.
It’s unclear if Morel has an attorney.
About 1,000 people, including New York City’s mayor, gathered Monday for the prayer service for Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin.
A NY man, Oscar Morel, of Brooklyn, was charged Monday with two counts of second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of a Muslim imam and his assistant, a police spokesman said.
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According to The New York Post, Morel admitted to police that he was at the scene during the time of the murders, but denied committing the crime.
