New York City police are searching 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.
Reuters – Police seal off the scene where Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64 were shot dead.
The search came as New York’s Mayor said Muslims were living “in the crosshairs of bigotry”.
Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, both originally from Bangladesh, were shot in the head at around lunchtime, having left the al-Furqan Jame mosque.
Police have said there is no evidence that the men were killed because of their faith, but some mosque-goers said the shooting was a hate crime.
“While we do not yet know the motivation for the murders of Maulama Akonjee and Thara Uddin, we do know that our Muslim communities are in the perpetual crosshairs of bigotry,” Mayor Bill De Blasio said in a statement. “It remains critical that we work to bridge the divides that threaten to undermine the greatness of our city and country.”
Related
Police said that Imam Akonjee was carrying about $1,000 (£775) when he was shot, but that the money was not stolen.
The New York Daily News obtained a video purporting to show the shooting, with a man swiftly approaching the victims and shooting without warning before running away from the scene,
Imam Akonjee’s nephew Rahi Majid told the newspaper: “He would not hurt a fly. You would watch him come down the street and watch the peace he brings.”
Yesterday a service was held in remembrance of the two men.
Attacks on US mosques are at their highest ever levels. A report published by the University of California at Berkeley and the Council on American-Islamic Relations showed that 78 mosques were attacked in 2015, the highest level since records were first kept in 2009.
Some protesters linked the attacks to the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
“This neighbourhood is getting crazy because of this election and Trump. He hates Muslims,” Monir Chowdhury, one of those gathered, told the Associated Press. “I love this neighbourhood and now I’m scared.”
Millat Uddin, 57, said: “What matters most is harmless people have been shot dead, regardless of whether this was a hate crime,” he said. “Our community’s heart is broken.”
In Bangladesh, the Foreign Minister, Mohammed Shahriar Alam condemned what he called a “cowardly act on peace-loving people”. The US ambassador to Dhaka, Marcia Bernicat, said Imam Akonjee “stood for peace,” adding: “We join Bangladeshis to condemn his killing and honour what he stood for.”
