{"id":27705,"date":"2016-08-14T03:53:48","date_gmt":"2016-08-14T03:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/imam-and-associate-killed-in-new-york-city-in-us\/"},"modified":"2016-08-14T03:53:26","modified_gmt":"2016-08-14T03:53:26","slug":"imam-and-associate-killed-in-new-york-city-in-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/imam-and-associate-killed-in-new-york-city-in-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Imam and associate killed in New York City in US"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Bangladeshi community wants incident treated as a hate crime as police look for man who fled scene with gun in his hand.}<\/p>\n

A Muslim imam of a mosque in New York City and his associate have been shot dead while walking along together following afternoon prayers, authorities say.<\/p>\n

The men were approached by a man from behind and shot both in the head on Saturday in the Ozone Park neighbourhood of Queens, a police spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Police said no arrests had been made.<\/p>\n

The victims, identified as Imam Maulana Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, were both wearing religious garb at the time of shooting, police said.<\/p>\n

Police had initially identified Uddin as Tharam.
\nThe men were transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where they died, the hospital said.<\/p>\n

The suspect was seen by witnesses fleeing the scene with a gun in his hand, police said.<\/p>\n

“We are currently conducting an extensive canvass of the area for video and additional witnesses,” said Deputy Inspector Henry Sautner of the New York Police Department (NYPD).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Naima Akonjee, 28, one of the imam’s seven children, said she rushed to her parents’ home after the shooting.<\/p>\n

She said her father did not “have any problems with anyone”.<\/p>\n

The New York Times reported that Akonjee was carrying more than $1,000 but the money was not taken.<\/p>\n

Members of the Bangladeshi Muslim community served by the mosque said they want the shootings to be treated as a hate crime.<\/p>\n

More than 100 people attended a rally on Saturday night and chanted “We want justice!”
\nSarah Sayeed, a member of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s staff who serves as a liaison to Muslim communities, attended the rally.<\/p>\n

“I understand the fear because I feel it myself,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I understand the anger. But it’s very important to mount a thorough investigation.”<\/p>\n

The motive for the shooting was not immediately known and no evidence has been uncovered that the two men were targeted because of their faith, said Tiffany Phillips, a spokeswoman for the New York City Police Department.<\/p>\n

‘This is a hate crime’<\/p>\n

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, held a news conference on Saturday near the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid, where the two men had prayed.<\/p>\n

Kobir Chowdhury, a leader at another local mosque, said: “Read my lips: This is a hate crime” directed at Islam.<\/p>\n

“We are peace-loving.”<\/p>\n

CAIR said Uddin was an associate of Akonjee.<\/p>\n

“These were two very beloved people,” Afaf Nasher, executive director of the New York chapter of CAIR, told Reuters news agency. “These were community leaders.<\/p>\n

“There is a deep sense of mourning and an overwhelming cry for justice to be served.<\/p>\n

“There is a very loud cry, too, for the NYPD to investigate fully, with the total amount of their resources, the incident that happened today.<\/p>\n

“We are calling for all people, of all faiths, to rally with compassion and with a sense of vigilance so that justice can be served.<\/p>\n

“You can’t go up to a person and shoot them in the head and not be motivated by hatred.”<\/p>\n

Mayor’s statement<\/p>\n

Eric Phillips, a press secretary for Blasio, said the mayor was closely monitoring the police investigation into the shootings.<\/p>\n

“While it is too early to tell what led to these murders, it is certain that the NYPD will stop at nothing to ensure justice is served,” Phillips said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In June, CAIR issued a statement calling for Muslim community leaders to consider increasing security after the Orlando massacre and incidents that it said had targeted Muslims and Islamic houses of worship.<\/p>\n

A man who called himself an “Islamic soldier” killed 49 people in an Orlando, Florida, nightclub on June 12.<\/p>\n

Last year, three American students were shot to death at a residential complex of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill over what police had said was motivated by a long-running dispute over parking spaces.<\/p>\n

However, the victims’ families believe they were targeted because they were Muslims and have pushed for hate-crime charges.<\/p>\n

\"Local<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Bangladeshi community wants incident treated as a hate crime as police look for man who fled scene with gun in his hand.} A Muslim imam of a mosque in New York City and his associate have been shot dead while walking along together following afternoon prayers, authorities say. The men were approached by a man […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101],"byline":[2474],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-27705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-internationl","byline-al-jazeera"],"bylines":[{"id":2474,"name":"AL JAZEERA","slug":"al-jazeera","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2474,"name":"AL JAZEERA","slug":"al-jazeera","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27705\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27705"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=27705"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=27705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}