New York City police searched on Sunday for a gunman who killed a Muslim cleric and his associate as they left prayers at a mosque in the borough of Queens on Saturday, a crime that sowed fear and sadness in their Bangladeshi community.
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Oscar Morel, a 35-year-old porter at a Manhattan college, was awaiting a court appearance on murder charges as authorities sought to determine a motive.
In a statement, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the killings were being viewed as a possible hate crime.
In that incident, he was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and assaulting police officers, after he rammed a police vehicle when they approached, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. They are continuing to investigate the motive.
CCTV footage from the area shows a man fleeing the scene of the shooting in a black GMC Trailblazer vehicle, which disappeared into traffic, police said.
“We want justice”, Badrul Kahn, founder of the Al-Furqan mosque and its chief adviser, shouted to the crowd in the service’s opening speech.
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.
Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 65, were shot in the back of the head in broad daylight as they left a mosque Saturday in Ozone Park.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, is set to announce on Monday a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter. “Trump and his drama has created Islamophobia”. “As one, we feel this pain”, Mr.de Blasio said.
Robert Boyce didn’t release the man’s name.
“We’re not going to let them continue to encourage acts of hatred”.
Meanwhile, sources said Monday that Oscar Morel admitted to cops that he was at the scene at the time of the slaying and that he is the person caught on video sneaking up behind the pair.
The New York Daily News reports that the incident might have stemmed from an ongoing feud between Muslims and Hispanics in the neighborhood, adding that the “shooting may have been payback after a group of Muslims allegedly attacked some Hispanics a few weeks earlier”.
Some in the largely Bangladeshi Muslim community in Queens and Brooklyn have described harassment in recent months by people who shouted anti-Muslim slogans.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio also promised to help restore peace and offer protection for Muslims in the community who feel that their safety is threatened.
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Asked about Morel’s employment, Boyce said the suspect is believed to have worked at a warehouse in Brooklyn.
