Imam and Another Man Killed in Shooting Near Mosque in Queens - NY Times

[TomSea]

[dfwgator]

Is that Eric Clapner?

[TomSea]

Is that Eric Clapner?

Yes and someone else said "Eric Clapton", I took it from them, slight resemblance of the latter day Eric Clapton.

[flowers]

  Not Clapton. He is in New Zealand fishing right now.

[The_Reader_David]

The guy (in the sketch) didn't even look remotely "Hispanic."  He looked like an Arab or possibly even a Bangladeshi (like the imam). This was a Muslim on Muslim internal dispute.

That seems likely from the police sketch.  Of course, American media (and most likely American law enforcement) doesn't have enough understanding of the sectarian divisions within Islam to provide anything useful about the case that might shed light on a religious motivation.  The imam's mosque's Facebook page looks to be fairly standard Sunni fare (I checked because I though maybe he was an Ahmadi, that would explain both the killing and the testimony of folks in the neighborhood that the imam was very peaceful, but no, looks to be straight up Sunni stuff).  Maybe the fact Bengladeshi Sunnis follow the Hanafi fiqh, rather than the Hanbali fiqh that the Wahabists and salafists tend to adhere to was the cause, or maybe it was just a grudge killing within the community over some non-religious matter.

[livius]

Interesting!  Yes, of course, as you say, it could be some completely non-religious grudge. The police said the killer appeared to be very "professional," in other words, a hit man, so the dispute could even be about money or a deal of some kind.

[mountaineer]

Cops arrest man suspected of executing imam, assistant
By Tina Moore, Kevin Sheehan and Linda Massarella
August 15, 2016 | 1:19am

A suspect in the cold-blooded execution of a Queens imam and his assistant was arrested Sunday night in Brooklyn, The Post has learned, hours after a video of the murder emerged.

A 35-year-old man from Ozone Park was taken into custody around 11 p.m. and was being held at the 75th Precinct in East New York, according to a high-ranking police source.

Cops arrested the man, who had not yet been charged, after tracking him through an old-model Chevy Trailblazer similar to the one the killer was spotted getting into at the scene of the crime.

Meanwhile, video footage obtained by The Post on Sunday shows the killer pumping bullets into Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, as they walked from the Al-Furqan mosque.

The video shows them in traditional Muslim clothing, walking near the corner of Liberty Avenue and 79th Street in Ozone Park, when the killer rushes up behind them around 2 p.m. Saturday.

He slows down as he reaches the pair and fires quickly. Then, as the victims fall face first to the sidewalk, the short-haired guman, wearing bookish eyeglasses, flees and jumps into the Trailblazer.

Police sources said they believe the killer “knew the imam and knew his schedule.”
The sons of the Imam Maulama Akonjee, who was murdered Sunday: (from left) Fayez, 32, Emad, 15, Niam, 23, and Saif, 25.Photo: G.N. Miller

“My father only wanted peace,” the imam’s son Niam Akonjee, 23, told The Post. “I want whoever did this to come forward for justice. That is all we ask, for justice and to know why he killed my father.”   ...  More at NY Post

[TomSea]

Cops arrest man suspected of executing imam, assistant
By Tina Moore, Kevin Sheehan and Linda Massarella
August 15, 2016 | 1:19am

A suspect in the cold-blooded execution of a Queens imam and his assistant was arrested Sunday night in Brooklyn, The Post has learned, hours after a video of the murder emerged.

A 35-year-old man from Ozone Park was taken into custody around 11 p.m. and was being held at the 75th Precinct in East New York, according to a high-ranking police source.

Cops arrested the man, who had not yet been charged, after tracking him through an old-model Chevy Trailblazer similar to the one the killer was spotted getting into at the scene of the crime.

Meanwhile, video footage obtained by The Post on Sunday shows the killer pumping bullets into Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, as they walked from the Al-Furqan mosque.

The video shows them in traditional Muslim clothing, walking near the corner of Liberty Avenue and 79th Street in Ozone Park, when the killer rushes up behind them around 2 p.m. Saturday.

He slows down as he reaches the pair and fires quickly. Then, as the victims fall face first to the sidewalk, the short-haired guman, wearing bookish eyeglasses, flees and jumps into the Trailblazer.

Police sources said they believe the killer “knew the imam and knew his schedule.”
The sons of the Imam Maulama Akonjee, who was murdered Sunday: (from left) Fayez, 32, Emad, 15, Niam, 23, and Saif, 25.Photo: G.N. Miller

“My father only wanted peace,” the imam’s son Niam Akonjee, 23, told The Post. “I want whoever did this to come forward for justice. That is all we ask, for justice and to know why he killed my father.”   ...  More at NY Post

Just heard this. Thanks for posting.