Imam, associate fatally shot after leaving NYC mosque

A Muslim imam was killed and a second man was critically wounded on Saturday while walking home from afternoon prayers at a mosque in the New York City borough of Queens. More than 100 people attended a rally Saturday night and chanted “We want justice!”

Deputy Inspector Henry Sautner says Akonjee was killed. Kobir Chowdhury, who is the president of another nearby mosque, told the Daily News that the community is “devastated”, and that the imam was a “very sweet, soft-spoken, humble man” who was a “role model as an imam, as a father, [and] as a community member”.

Police say they haven’t determined a motive for the killings Saturday, and that there’s no indication the men were targeted due to their faith.

The gunman approached the men from behind and shot both in the head at close range at about 1:50 p.m. EDT on a blistering hot afternoon in the Ozone Park neighborhood, police said in a statement, adding that no arrests had been made.

The cleric Maulana Akonjee, 55, and his assistant, Thara Uddin, 64, were taken in critical condition to Jamaica Hospital, where they later died, CNN quoted Sautner as saying.

The mosque serves a community of Bangladeshi immigrants.

After the shooting a crowd of angry Muslim men gathered at the scene insisting it was a hate crime.

Shahin Chowdhury, a worshipper at the mosque, said members of the community had felt animosity lately, with people cursing while passing the mosque.

Millat Uddin says the shooting “could be a net result of the politics that is going on”.

“The community’s heart is totally broken”, Uddin said. She’d tell him, “Why are you caring about me?”

Neighbors also described Thara Uddin as a pious and thoughtful man who prayed five times a day and went to the mosque.

“A very honest, wise man”.