*UPDATE* Authorities ‘Strongly Believe’ Detained Man Killed Imam
The police believe the gunman killed the imam and friend over a feud, not their faith.
A gunman killed Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and his friend Thara Uddin, 64, near the Furquan Jame Masjid mosque in Queens on Saturday. The man shot the men point blank in the back of the head.
*UPDATE 10:06PM* New York City Police Department Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told reporters the police believe the man they detained committed the crime. NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton added:
“Detectives were able to develop a strong lead into a suspect very early on based on an unrelated incident that occurred in Brooklyn, approximately 10 minutes after the shooting, three miles away,” Bratton said.
Boyce explained the car involved in the hit-and-run was identical to the car the suspect got into following the double shooting.
Earlier today, the police did not consider the man a suspect.
The police do not believe the murderer targeted the men over their faith. They do not have a motive, but police said they “were trying to determine whether an earlier dispute at the mosque led to the shooting.”
Sources said the killer may have hit a cyclist as he attempted to get away, who jotted down the “license plate number and gave it to police.”
Boyce described what they did to nab the man:
Boyce said police found the vehicle and monitored it until the person emerged about 10 p.m. Sunday. When detectives approached the car, Boyce said the man then rammed their car.
Boyce said the 36-year-old Hispanic male was there eight minutes prior to the shooting and that a motive has not yet been determined. A search warrant has been obtained for his home in East New York, Brooklyn.
The police released video of the shooting and a sketch of the suspect.
Police in New York release this sketch of murder suspect of Imam in New York! #NewYork pic.twitter.com/bfppUoaVdx
— Elizabeth Maness (@ElizbethLManess) August 14, 2016
From The New York Daily News:
Sources pointed to an ongoing feud between Muslims and Hispanics in the neighborhood, saying the shooting may have been payback after a group of Muslims allegedly attacked some Hispanics a few weeks earlier.
Cops have established is that at 1:50 p.m. Saturday, the assassin quickly approached Akonjee and Uddin and shot them both in the head at close range. The double killing came just moments after prayers concluded at the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque.
Akonjee had $1,000 on him, but the murderer did not take the money, which eliminates robbery as a motive.
Yet, people have pointed the finger at GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump for inciting the violence:
“That’s not what America is about,” said local resident Khairul Islam, 33. “We blame Donald Trump for this. Trump and his drama has created Islamophobia.”
They arrested the 35-year-old man after they tracked “him through an old-model Chevy Trailblazer similar to the one the killer was spotted getting into at the scene of the crime.”
Jewish activists showed support for the Muslims:
Jewish activists visited the mosque Sunday night in a show of solidarity. Robert Silverman, 57, director of Muslim/Jewish relations for the America Jewish Congress, went straight to the mosque after getting off a flight from Indonesia.
“We’re here to show support to the Muslim community,” he said. “It was a heinous crime. We have to rely on the police to decide if this was a hate crime. We really don’t know what this was motivated by.”
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Comments
I’m not entirely convinced that I need these guys telling me “what America is about.”
And whatever it is about, I don’t think their brand of rote bigotry is it.
Quite a coincidence that those are the exact words that Obama always uses when it comes to any Anti-Islamic Extremist talk.
Anti-Islamic extremist talk = accurately citing Islamic religious and legal texts.
The Quran, the Sunnah, Shia religious texts such as the biography of Muhammad and the biographies of the rightly guided Imams and their hadith collections (which differ from the Sunni collections but still arrive at the same place in terms of advocating violence), and Sharia law texts from every single extant Sunni and Shia school of Islamic jurisprudence.
If the muslims are voting #NeverTrump does that mean they are true conservatives?
Why am I not surprised that a Trump supporter would make such a basic logical error?
because, as a Hillary! supporter, you don’t really understand or use logic?
Wow, and I see basic reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit. A sad commentary on the US electorate.
Paul,
As an expert on logic and reading comprehension, perhaps you can answer this for me. No one else at #NT seems to be able to? What is your plan to deal with the fallout of a President Hillary? Specifically, how does your plan deal with the appointment of several liberal justices on the Supreme Court that would lock in liberalism for 30 years? Or is there no plan, just continued denial?
I eagerly await your logical response which I will try to comprehend.
VG
So you acknowledge your If A then B, B therefore A mistake?
What makes you assume I’m NT? I simply took exception to your disparagement of conservatives. You Trump guys have an odd way of trying to win people over to your side. You have no clue who I’m voting for, altbough I can assure you it won’t be Hillary.
Paul,
My understanding of logic is just fine. I can’t say the same for your grasp of sarcasm.
So, if you’re not #NT you are at least anti Trump. (I logically deduce that from your statement:
‘You Trump guys’ as opposed to ‘We Trump guys’ which would have included you.[reading comprehension]) And you are not a Hillary supporter. Therefore you are not voting or are voting 3rd party. (How’s my logic so far?)
As of today, Trump and Clinton are the only candidates who have a mathematical chance of winning the election. The other 2 candidates (or is it 3 – Has anyone heard from McMullin since his announcement last week?) are stuck in single digits and thus effectively out of the race. Since Trump needs votes to defeat Clinton, any vote not cast for him, regardless of who it is cast for (or not cast at all), increased the odds of a Clinton victory. (All elections are about a single, winning vote. All votes cast prior to that vote neutralize each other. When a vote for one candidate has no counter vote, the candidate wins. Votes after that are meaningless since the candidate has already won.[A + 1 = A + 100])
That brings us back to my question –
What is your plan to deal with the fallout of a President Hillary? Specifically, how does your plan deal with the appointment of several liberal justices on the Supreme Court that would lock in liberalism for 30 years? Or is there no plan, just continued denial? Is there logic to your decision or just hatred?
Well, VaG, one can be willing, however grudgingly, to vote for Trump without considering oneself a “Trump guy” (or gal). No? We see a lot of commenters on LI who dislike Trump but see him as the lesser of the two evils before us.
As to the Trump fans’ obsession with how everyone votes, I find it puzzling. After all, Trump has assured America that he’s going to win, and his fans claim it will be by a landslide. What do a handful of #NeverTrumpers even matter? Maybe if you people spent more time explaining what is so great about Trump and why he’d make a great president, you’d be less inclined to get so defensive simply because your current refrain of “If you don’t vote for Trump, you’re a Hillary shill, voter, and leftist loser!” is a big pile of fail. Just a thought.
As you say, ‘…as of today…’ we have an incomplete view. A lot can happen between now and November. But one thing is certain, the braying, juvenile asshattery that is common coming from many Trump supporters isn’t likely to sway any in his direction.
Paul,
As of today we have a VERY COMPLETE view of the consequences of a Clinton victory. We can safely predict with a high probability that it would undo decades of conservative victories at the state level and would create a supreme court that would lock out conservatives for decades. Our 1st and 2nd amendment rights (and others) would become meaningless as the constitution was redefined by liberal justices for decades to come. The consequences for conservativism would be devastating. If you truly value conservative principles, you have to be asking how can we prevent it? That’s why I asked if you had a plan. The only way I see is to elect Trump. Instead of an answer based on the logic you claim to have and value, you accuse those you disagree with of “braying, juvenile asshattery”. Your commitment to the high road turned out to be as shallow as your reasoning abilities. No matter how good it feels today, living in denial is not the way to political victory. When will you act to save the cause you claim to value? The day after the election? The day after the inauguration? The 7th day of never?
To quote the great philosopher, B. Bunny – “What a maroon!”
Fuzzy,
When I last checked, votes were how elections are won. Winners get to choose the agenda. Hillary benefits if Trump voters stay home. Trump benefits if Hillary voters stay home. Votes count – even yours.
If Hillary wins, the conservative gains of the last 2 decades will be wiped out and the court appointments she makes will lock us out for decades to come. There is nothing that Trump can do that will set back conservativism like her presidency – nothing. End of argument.
Hilarious that you’re so suddenly concerned about The Constitution after ramming through a lying, collectivist piece of shit who opines about how he is going to gut the First Amendment.
Then you want to deride people who won’t vote for your Cheeto Jesus. How pathetic, you and your ilk are the mirror image of the Obama Phone voters.
There is SOME chance that I might hold my nose, and eat the shit sandwich that is voting for Trump in November. But the nonsensical braying coming from the Trump crowd reduces the likelihood of that happening everyday.
Here, eat your lunch, I imagine you’ll love these….. http://unsavoryagents.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/trump_dicks_web-2.jpg
Sometimes it just writes itself –
Paul:
“the braying, juvenile asshattery that is common coming from many Trump supporters isn’t likely to sway any in his direction.”
“a lying, collectivist piece of shit who opines”
“you and your ilk are the mirror image of the Obama Phone voters”
Paul, be careful, some might think you are a “braying juvenille”.
Paul,
As this discussion has progressed your replies have regressed. You began by claiming logic and ended with outright name calling. You gave up any pretense of adulthood and are now just engaging in childish bullying. Presented the opportunity to discuss the substantive issue of how to counter a Hillary presidency, you run away and blame me for asking. I find myself in the position Harry Truman was in when a supporter said “Give ’em Hell, Harry!” He replied, “I don’t have to give ‘en hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell!”
None of you sufferers with TDS have a plan to deal with Pres Hillary. And that’s a tell. A plan forces you to let reality into your fantasy. When you make a plan the flaws in your fantasy view of the world become apparent and have to be dealt with. And that’s the problem for you – Trump has to be the red eyed, fire breathing, sulphorous monster of your fantasy. He has to be a million times worse than Hillary. Otherwise you have to deal with the reality of a President Hillary. And you’re not honest enough to do that. And that’s why you don’t have a plan.
You are the republican voter who stayed home because he couldn’t bring himself to vote for Romney and then spent the last 4 years blaming the republicans for not dealing with Obama. It could happen again because of fools like you who are in denial. Who can’t face the real world.
You’ll stay home on Nov 8, or vote 3rd party. On Nov 9 you’ll begin cursing the darkness you created. You’ll begin condemning those who were out there working to prevent the disaster, blaming them for not doing enough to convince you to do the right thing. The thing you should have done to prevent the disaster. For not treating you as the special snowflake you clearly are and kissing your ass until you relented and did what logic dictated you should have done from the beginning.
That’s you, Paul. In all your glory.
Was he a gun toting second amendment Christian Tall Hispanic ?
Must be a white Hispanic….
If I wanted to lose money quickly, I’d bet the media would cover this by spending more time on the nature of the relationships and the cause of the murders. But instead expect more cpverage of how the mosque and community members “feel” in this “Islamophobic” culture, even though it isn’t either true or related. More interviews of those members are probably coming too.
Wait, I thought the killers were inspired by Trump. This doesn’t fit the carefully crafted media meme.
Since it won’t fit the narrative if this turns out to be just a dispute between two groups of people arguing over the same turf the media will have to blame Trump for stirring up hate which encouraged some a peaceful Hispanic man to strike out in frustration over being put down for being a brown man.
Okay, as I wrote, think I wrote, long ago:
Another poster asked if we should learn arabic or spanish. I said, learn spanish; the latins don’t have the political correctness disease we have, or the feminism disease either, which means they won’t tie their hands behind their backs in fighting muslims.
Just as I predicted. Learn spanish.
So, the shooter was an Hispanic Trump supporter according to the Muslims? I thought that there are no Hispanic Trump supporters.
“Trump and his drama has created Islamophobia.”
No. Islam created “Islamophobia”, but there’s nothing unreasonable about fearing a religion that encourages mass murder.