A gunman shot dead two Bangladeshi nationals on Saturday as they were walking together in New York, reports and officials said.
“We have confirmed that an imam of a mosque and his associate — both Bangladesh nationals were killed when a gunman fired gunshots in the afternoon of Saturday,” said Bangladesh Consul General in New York Shamim Ahsan as he was reached by the Foreign Ministry in Dhaka yesterday.
Ahsan immediately could identify the 55-year-old imam only as Maulana Akonjee saying he was declared dead after he was rushed to the nearby Jamaica Hospital and his associate 65-year-old Tara Mia succumbed to his wounds four hours later. “After hearing the news, we rushed to the hospital…we are maintaining constant contact with the New York police and the hospital authorities for gathering detailed information as we await completion of hospital formalities for subsequent steps,” he added.
Reports quoting New York police (NYCPD) said the gunman approached the pair from behind and shot both in the head at close range at about 1:50pm in the Ozone Park neighbourhood.
NYCPD spokeswoman Tiffany Phillips told newsmen that the motive for the shooting was not immediately known and there were as yet “no indications” the men were targeted because of their faith.
The victims were both wearing religious clothes at the time of shooting while the gunman having a medium complexion and dressed in shorts and dark polo shirt was seen by witnesses fleeing the scene with a gun in his hand.
“The perpetrator of these senseless killings must be swiftly apprehended and face the full force of the law,” Afaf Nasher, executive director of the Muslim advocacy group’s New York chapter, said in a statement.
The reports described Akonjee as a peaceful man who was beloved within Ozone Park’s large Muslim community while the people in the neighbourhood said he had led the mosque for about two years.
Angry residents of the neighbourhood staged a rally at the scene after the shooting demanding justice and calling the assassinations as “hate crime”.
“I understand the fear because I feel it myself. I understand the anger,” said Sarah Sayeed, a member of New York mayor Bill De Blasio’s staff and who works as a liaison with Muslim communities.”But it’s very important to mount a thorough investigation.”
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has condemned the killing of the Bangladesh- origin imam and his associate in New York city describing it as a cowardly act on peace-loving people.
“We condemn the killing of the Bangladeshi origin imam in NYC…it’s a cowardly act on peace loving people,” State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam tweeted yesterday.
Earlier, US Ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat expressed condolences over the deaths of the two Bangladesh-origin nationals in New York saying violence is not the solution.”We mourn the deaths of Imam Akonjee and Tara.
Violence can never be the solution,” she tweeted yesterday.
Ambassador Bernicat in a separate message said Imam Akonjee was a respected community leader. “We join all Bangladeshis to condemn the killings and honour what these two men stood for,” she said.