NEW YORK – A role-model imam and his assistant were killed in assassination style shooting as they walked along a street in the New York borough of Queens on Saturday, August 13, the crime Muslims blamed on Donald Trump hateful rhetoric.
“We are all crying,” the imam’s assistant brother Mashuk Uddin told NY Daily News on Sunday, August 14.
“There’s so much crying.”
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.
Akonjee, 55, a married father of three, was a respected religious leader since his arrival in Queens from Bangladesh less than two years ago.
Uddin, 65, died about four hours after the attack.
According to police, the attack occurred on Saturday around 1:55 pm on 79th St., by a gunman who was seen in a video footage.
The shooter left his victims lying in their own blood just one block from the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in Ozone Park, where the two victims prayed together only minutes earlier.
Uddin, also a father of three, was lying on the ground bleeding heavily when his nephew arrived by chance at the scene.
“I was upset. I cried. He’s my uncle,” Rezwan Uddin, 28, said.
The victims, both natives of Bangladesh, were apparently heading to Uddin’s house when they were attacked.
“I’m very shocked,” said Mashuk Uddin.
“I’m shaking, my whole body. Not any problems with anybody. He just goes to the mosque, prays and goes home.”
Akonjee was leaving for Bangladesh in 10 days to attend his son’s wedding, said Ahmed Zakria, a member of the mosque.
Sweet Imam
The imam’s nephew said Akonjee had no problems with anyone in the neighborhood, blaming Trump for the spread of anti-Muslim rhetoric.
“I’m not sure what kind of an animal would kill that man,” said Rahi Majid, 26.
“He would not hurt a fly. You would watch him come down the street and watch the peace he brings.”
The imam’s good manners were confirmed by local residents who described him as a pious, well-regarded member of the community.
“We are devastated,” said Kobir Chowdhury, president of a different neighborhood mosque.
“We need to get to the bottom of this. We need to know if they did this just because of our religion.
The imam was “a very sweet, soft-spoken, humble man,” said Chowdhury, 40.
“He’s a role model as an imam, as a father, as a community member. He didn’t have any disputes with anybody.”
Cops and witnesses described the shooter as tall and Hispanic, carrying a large handgun, and wearing a dark blue shirt and shorts.
“People being shot in the head in broad daylight is unheard of,” said Millat Uddin, a 25-year resident of the neighborhood who is not related to the victim, Thara Uddin.
“Killing people brutally, like they’re an animal.”