Police say have not yet found evidence that Oscar Morel, who has been charged with first-degree murder, harbored any hatred towards Muslims

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The families of a murdered Bangladeshi imam and his friend gave an emotional call for justice on the steps of New York’s city hall on Thursday, as leaders of the Muslim community reiterated demands that the suspect be tried for a hate crime.

“Our family is deeply saddened by the loss of my brother-in-law,” said Afia Uddin, of community member Thuru Uddin. “We hope NYPD will bring the murderer to justice.”

Uddin stood with her brother-in-law’s 25-year-old son, who fought back tears throughout the press conference. Members of the Islamic Leadership council, interfaith leaders, city legislators and officials crowded the steps on city hall on Thursday morning.

But it was the families who made the most impassioned calls. Imam Maulama Akonjee’s son in-law Momin Ahmed told the crowd of reporters that the deaths have been hard on his family.

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“We hope everyone knows the imam was a kind loving person,” Ahmed said. “Every single person can say he had no problem with anybody.”

Akonjee and Uddin were killed on Saturday in what prosecutors described as an assassination, when a man approached the two from behind and shot them in the head from point-blank range. The shootings sent shockwaves through the American-Muslim community.

A 35-year-old porter at Manhattan’s New School, Oscar Morel, was charged with first degree murder on Tuesday for their killings.

Several speakers at the press conference reiterated calls for Morel to be charged with a hate crime. An emotional Afaf Nasher, the president of the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, fought back tears as she called for a hate crimes investigation.

“I applaud the district attorney for upgrading the charges to murder-one however at the same time, we continuously pursue and push for the investigation of hate crimes,” Nasher said.

Morel’s first-degree murder charge is a rarity in itself, as it’s usually reserved for people who kill police officers. It indicates the prosecution feels it has a strong case.

Morel was arrested after his car was matched with one caught on camera fleeing the scene, and was involved in a hit-and-run with a cyclist 10 minutes after the shooting.

He was originally charged with second-degree murder after police found a gun matching the one used in the crime hidden behind a wall at his house. After meeting with members of the Bangladeshi community and Islamic leadership council, the Queens district attorney upgraded the charges to first-degree murder, which indicates the crime was intentional and premeditated.

What remains uncertain is Morel’s motivations. In court on Tuesday, Morel’s lawyer told the judge his client “did not make any form of admission”.

Also, speaking with the Daily News from Rikers Island jail, Morel said: “It wasn’t me.”

“I just want to say I like all types of religions,” he said.

On Wednesday night, several Imams, Muslim lawyers and Muslim activists met at a mosque in Jamaica, Queens, to discuss how to respond to the crisis that has shocked their community.

The meeting, which was closed to media, was attended by representatives of a variety of different immigrant Muslim groups, as well as African American Muslims. Akonjee’s son was also in attendance.

Members remained steadfast in their call for Morel to be charged with a hate crime. But the NYPD chief of detectives Bob Boyce said the motivation of the killer remained a mystery.

“It’s a bit of a tough one for us to figure out,” Boyce told reporters on Wednesday.

An investigation of Morel’s phone and Facebook account, as well as interviews with friends, have not surfaced any indication that he harbored any hatred towards Muslims, Boyce said.

Hate crime convictions have long been a contentious issue for the NYPD and prosecutors. Experts say, prosecutors are hesitant to charge defendants with hate crimes because it is difficult to prove and provides little benefit when pursuing a conviction.

“It is very difficult to establish that a hate crime has occurred,” said Jack Levin, co-director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University and author of The Violence of Hate. He explained that it requires understanding the thinking of a defendant. Also, the charge in the first-degree murder carries the heaviest sentence of life without parole, and therefore an additional hate crime conviction would be additional work with little gain for prosecutors.

But the symbolism of a hate crime is important to affected groups and can help indicate trends to encourage legislators to address a wider problem, Levin explained.

Morel will appear in court today to enter his plea and will be assigned a homicide lawyer.

Ahmed, Akonjee’s son in-law, said they will wait for “the final result” before making any judgments.