Motive for the shooting of Maulana Akonjee and another man not immediately known

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A Muslim imam and a second man were fatally shot on Saturday while walking home from afternoon prayers at a mosque in the New York borough of Queens, authorities said.

The cleric, who police identified as Maulana Akonjee, and the second man were both shot in the head at close range at about 1.50 pm local time after leaving the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood. Both men were wearing religious garb at the time of shooting.

The men were transported to Jamaica hospital medical center and died “while life-saving procedures were being performed,” said Andrew Rubin, a hospital spokesman.

The motive for the shooting was not immediately known and no evidence has been uncovered so far that the two men were targeted because of their faith.

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“There’s nothing in the preliminary investigation to indicate that they were targeted because of their faith,” said deputy inspector Henry Sautner of the New York police department.

Sautner 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.

Members of the Bangladeshi community served by the mosque said they wanted the shootings to be treated as a hate crime.

More than 100 people attending a rally at the shooting site Saturday night chanted “We want justice!”.

Sarah Sayeed, a member of mayor Bill de Blasio’s staff, serves as a liaison to Muslim communities. She attended the rally and said, “I understand the fear because I feel it myself. I understand the anger. But it’s very important to mount a thorough investigation.”

Police declined to identify the second man or his relationship with the imam pending notification of his family.

Police have yet to identify a suspect but police said witnesses said they saw a lone armed assailant fleeing the scene.

Akonjee, 55, was described as a peaceful man who was beloved within Ozone Park’s large Muslim community.

“He would not hurt a fly,” his nephew Rahi Majid, 26, told the New York Daily News. “You would watch him come down the street and watch the peace he brings.”

Video footage posted on YouTube showed dozens of men gathered near the site of the shooting, with one of them telling the crowd that it appeared to be a hate crime, even as police said the motive was still unknown.



“We feel really insecure and unsafe in a moment like this,” Millat Uddin, an Ozone Park resident told CBS New York. “It’s really threatening to us, threatening to our future, threatening to our mobility in our neighborhood, and we’re looking for the justice.”

