From the New York Daily News:

Updated: Saturday, August 13, 2016, 11:27 PM

A lone gunman executed a revered Queens imam and his friend as the pair walked home from Saturday prayers, blasting each in the back of the head without a word, officials said.

Mosque leader Maulama Akonjee and friend Thara Uddin were dressed in Muslim garb when the killer “approached from behind and shot” from point-blank range, said NYPD Deputy Inspector Henry Sautner of the Queens South Detective Bureau …

Scores of worshipers from the mosque gathered within hours at the murder scene to denounce the cold-blooded ambush as a hate crime.

“That’s not what America is about,” said local resident Khairul Islam, 33. “We blame Donald Trump for this . . . Trump and his drama has created Islamophobia.”

A high-ranking police source said the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force would investigate, but it was “too early to say” what the motive was.

A second source said investigators were looking into the possibility of a botched robbery because one of the men was found carrying several hundred dollars. …

Police sources said they have witnesses who saw the killer holding a gun, as well as security video of the shooter following the imam and his friend. The footage then captures the man sprinting back, this time with a gun in his hand. …