Attacker Shot Dead Muslim Imam, Assistant In New York
MEP: A Muslim imam and his assistant were shot dead as they walked along a street in the New York city of United States.
The men were approached by an attacker from behind and shot both in the head on Saturday in the Ozone Park neighbourhood of Queens, a police spokesperson said.
Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, moved to the city from Bangladesh two years ago and his assistant, 64-year-old Thara Uddin, was critically injured and later on succumbed to his injuries in hospital, reports in New York said.
Both were killed while walking home from afternoon prayers at a mosque.
Police said no arrests had been made.
The suspect was seen by witnesses fleeing the scene with a gun in his hand, police added.
“He would not hurt a fly,” Imam Akonjee’s nephew Rahi Majid, told the New York Daily News. “You would watch him come down the street and watch the peace he brings.”
A large number of Muslims gathered at the murder scene, denouncing the shooting as a hate crime.
