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NEW YORK, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Police searched on Sunday for a gunman who killed a Muslim imam and his associate as they left a mosque in the Queens Borough of New York City Saturday, a crime that set off fear and anguish in the Bangladeshi community.
The shooting occurred around 2:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) near the Al-Furqan Masjid Mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, where the two victims were attending their Saturday afternoon prayers, according to local media.
The victims, identified as Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, were wearing the traditional Muslim garb and were both shot in the head from close range. The killer approached them from behind, according to police.
Local police have released a sketch of a male suspect with dark hair, a beard and glasses. Police said witnesses described the shooter as a man with a medium complexion, who fled with a gun in his hand. Surveillance footage showed the suspect tailing the victims.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, is set to announce on Monday a 10,000-U.S. dollar reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.
Imam Akonjee had moved to the United States from Bangladesh two years ago, according to media reports, and the culturally diverse, working-class area where the victims were killed, on the border between Queens and Brooklyn, is home to many Muslim families from Bangladesh.
Members of the mosque had gathered at the mosque after the tragedy, denouncing the shooting as a hate crime against their faith.
The New York City police said they have not established a motive in the attack, saying there was no evidence the men were targeted because of their faith, but nothing was being ruled out.
On Saturday, Deputy Inspector Henry Sautner said there was "nothing in the preliminary investigation to indicate that they were targeted because of their faith."
"While we do not yet know the motivation for the murders of Maulama Akonjee and Thara Uddin, we do know that our Muslim communities are in the perpetual crosshairs of bigotry," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement, "Rest assured that our NYPD will bring this killer to justice."
"When religious leaders are targeted, we all bear the pain those in Ozone Park feel most personally today," said the mayor.
Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Shahriar Alam, said the shooting was a "cowardly act on peace-loving people." The U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh, Marcia Bernicat, said Akonjee "stood for peace."
