“I love this neighborhood and now I’m scared”.
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The New York City Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the individual depicted in the attached sketch in connection to the homicide.
On Sunday, neighbors in the Ozone Park section were skeptical of what police had found so far. An imam and his assistant were both shot in the head and killed in New York Saturday, police said, in an attack with unclear motives.
USA media reported that the men, dressed in traditional Muslim garb, were shot after they left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque following Saturday afternoon prayers.
Mashuk Uddin says his brother came to the USA from Bangladesh five years ago. He said he was devoted to his family and his religion.
“We are peace-loving”, said Kobir Chowdhury, a leader at another local mosque.
The incident has not been classified as a hate crime.
The Anti-Defamation League is also urging the NYPD to investigate the shooting as a possible bias crime, according to the Associated Press.
The ADL fights anti-Semitism around the world through programs and services.
Friends of Imam Akonjee, who moved here from Bangladesh two years ago, told media he had just left the mosque after prayers when he was shot.
Police said the two men were shot about 1:50 p.m.at the corner of Liberty Avenue and 79th Street, three blocks from the mosque.
Police have not announced a motive. The two men were approached from behind by a suspect whom witnesses saw fleeing the scene with a gun, according to police.
A sketch of the shooter released by police early Sunday shows a dark-haired, bearded man wearing glasses.
Police said surveillance video captured the gunman leaving the scene with his weapon in hand.
The shooting appeared to be the most violent attack against local Muslim leaders in recent years, said Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights and advocacy group.
In June, CAIR issued a statement calling for Muslim community leaders to consider increasing security at mosques after the massacre at an Orlando nightclub, which the police said was carried out by a man who called himself an “Islamic soldier”.
The AP reported that scores attended a rally at the site of the shooting Saturday night, chanting, “We want justice!”
Afaf Nasher, executive director of the NY chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, said in a statement that the perpetrator of Saturday’s shootings “must be swiftly apprehended and face the full force of the law”.
Tiffany Phillips, a spokeswoman for the New York City Police Department, said no evidence has been uncovered to suggest the two men were shot due to their faith.
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Naima Akonjee, 28, one of Akonjee’s seven children, said she rushed to her parents’ home after the shooting.
