Police say they’re fairly certain they’ve arrested a man who killed a NY imam and his friend.
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A Muslim advocacy group on Monday plans to announce a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest of the gunman who killed a NY mosque leader and his associate as the families of the slain men make funeral arrangements and continue their quest for answers in the shooting.
The NYPD’s chief of detective told reporters the 36-year-old man is being held on charges he struck a bicyclist 10 minutes after the shooting. He hasn’t been charged in the double slaying. A person who lives near the shooting scene shared with The Associated Press and other media organizations surveillance video that showed a man walking up behind the imam and his associate, shooting them and then walking off. Police said they were reviewing the video.
“Detectives were able to develop a strong lead into a suspect very early on based on an unrelated incident that occurred in Brooklyn, approximately 10 minutes after the shooting, three miles away”, the commissioner said.
Passions ran hot at a funeral service for the two victims.
About 1,000 people, including New York City’s mayor, gathered Monday for the prayer service for Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin.
Speaking at the press conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he assured members of the Bangladeshi community and the Muslim community that the killer would be brought to justice.
The shooting took place near Liberty Avenue and 79th Street in Ozone Park around 2 p.m. Saturday.
Maulama Akonjee, 55, who migrated to the United States from Bangladesh, and his friend, 64-year-old Thara Uddin, were shot dead in broad daylight on Saturday afternoon in the Ozone Park neighborhood.
Police blocked off several roads around the Brooklyn parking lot where the funeral was held, and scores of officers worked to secure the event, setting up barricades to keep spectators from swarming the black hearses and the speakers’ tent.
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 has been harassed by people shouting anti-Muslim epithets.
New York City police detectives investigating the slayings of an imam and his associate have detained and questioned a man as part of an attempt to identify a vehicle seen after the shooting.
(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle). A young woman looks over the area from the steps of an elevated train station Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, in the Queens borough of New York, near a crime scene after the leader of a New York City mosque and an associate were fatal.
Investigators said Monday that the vehicle matched the description of one involved in an unsolved hit-and-run crash in Brooklyn.
Police moved in and took the suspect into custody as he approached the vehicle on Sunday night. Police now have a search warrant for the man’s home in East New York, Brooklyn.
He says his family “cannot believe he is no more”, calling the loss “irreparable”.
A Muslim advocacy group is announcing a reward for information leading to the arrest of the gunman who killed a New York City mosque leader and his associate.
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Officials declined to give the name of the suspect or to comment on a suspected motive for the killings.
