Anxious New York Muslims demand justice in imam murder
Muslim New Yorkers demanded stepped up security and justice on Monday, urging police to arrest the killer of an imam and his assistant before hundreds of mourners attended their funeral service.
Maulama Akonjee, 55, who migrated to the United States from Bangladesh, and his friend, 64-year-old Thara Uddin, were shot dead in broad daylight on Saturday afternoon in the Ozone Park neighborhood of New York's Queens borough.
Police said Monday they were questioning a suspect taken into custody for an unrelated incident, but say no arrest has been made specifically in connection with the murders.
The New York Daily News quoted police sources as saying the killer may have been settling a score in a feud between Muslims and Hispanics. Police say so far nothing indicates the two men were targeted because of their faith.
But members of the Muslim community insisted Monday that police investigate the double murder as a hate crime, and dismissed suggestions that there was a turf war between minorities in the area.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations offered a $10,000 reward for any information that could lead to the arrest or conviction of the perpetrators.
"We want justice, we want justice, we want justice," chanted Muslim elders at a chaotic news conference before the funeral got underway.
Community leaders, clearly rattled by rising Islamophobia, slammed "xenophobic statements" made against Muslims by "politicians and candidates seeking the highest office in the land" -- a clear reference to Donald Trump.
Trump, the New York billionaire and Republican nominee, used a keynote address Monday to demand ideological screening tests for immigrants. He has in the past called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country.
- Anger -
New York police "must not engage in giving mixed messages," said one speaker, alleging that such messages create anger in the community.
He demanded security cameras be erected outside Muslim places of worship and on the street where the two men were shot to be renamed in their honor.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who paid his respects with other elected officials, promised extra police would protect mosques and Muslim communities, saying the entire city stood shoulder to shoulder with those in mourning.
"We will make sure that whoever did this is brought to justice, I can guarantee you that," de Blasio told the news conference.
"We know there are voices all over this country who are spewing hate, trying to create division, trying to turn one American against another," he said.
"We're not going to let them continue to encourage acts of hatred."
Police on Sunday released a sketch of a suspect, asking for public assistance in identifying the "adult male with a medium complexion, last seen wearing a dark colored shirt and blue shorts."
The sketch showed a man wearing glasses with a beard and moustache, and a high forehead with his hair combed back. Police have offered a $10,000 reward.
The working-class area where the victims were killed, on the border between Queens and Brooklyn, is home to many Muslim families from Bangladesh.
Akonjee had been carrying more than $1,000, but the attacker did not take the money, police said.