Police say that the shooting of the Queens Imam and his assistant happened a few minutes before 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
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“Responding officers from the 106 Precinct arrived at the scene and discovered a 64-year-old male and a 55-year-old male, both with gunshot wounds to the head”, Sautner said. Akonjee was carrying about $1,000 in cash that was not taken during the shooting, police said.
Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, moved to the city from Bangladesh two years ago, reports in NY said.
“Seven children are left as orphans for the imam and three children for his associate”, Nasher said.
The Imam and his friend were dressed in Muslim attire at the time of the shooting. She described her father as a caring man.
Witnessed declared they saw the suspect had a medium complexion.
Another follower, Millat Uddin (who is not related to victim Thara Uddin), said: ‘The community’s heart is totally broken. Not any problems with anybody.
“He’s an exceptionally docile man, harmless guy”, he said.
Investigators hadn’t established a motive for the shootings, said NYPD Deputy Inspector Hank Sautner during a news conference. “We need to get to the bottom of this”.
“We condemn the killing of Bangladeshi origin Imam in NYC…it’s a cowardly act on peace loving people”, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam tweeted on Sunday.
NY residents fear the murder of a Muslim cleric and a friend outside a Mosque in Queens yesterday, may have been racially motivated.
“I mean one of the things to me was just the irony.at the end (of the film) he is back driving a cab and it’s. yeah, celebrated, which is kind of relevant in some weird way today too”, said De Niro at a public talk. They also urged authorities to treat the imam and his associate’s murder as a hate crime.
“Please, read my lips”. “We blame Donald Trump for this.Trump and his drama has created Islamophobia”. “At this time, a motive has not been determined, and we are now conducting an extensive canvass of the area for video and additional witnesses”.
“That’s not what America is about”, Khairul Islam, 33, told the New York Daily News.
An imam and a second community leader were shot to death after leaving their mosque in Queens on Saturday afternoon.
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He said video surveillance showed the victims were approached from behind by a man in a dark polo shirt and shorts who shot them and then fled with the gun still in his hand. Hours after the incident occurred, demonstrators rallied in support of Akonjee and Uddin.
