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Monday's outdoor funeral for a Muslim imam and his associate shot dead over the weekend in New York City, the largest city in the United States, drew about 1,000 mourners near a mosque in Queens Borough.
Police are questioning a 36-year-old suspect arrested on charges related to a hit-and-run traffic accident on Saturday afternoon when Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, were slain after prayers at the Al-Furqan Masjid Mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens.
The motive for the killings that set off fear and anguish in the Bangladeshi community in the neighborhood has not been determined, said police, who have found no connection between the Hispanic suspect and the two men murdered.
The suspect was arrested late Sunday night. He was seen on video surveillance fleeing the area of the shootings in a black GMC Trailblazer just after the murders, and a car matching that description was found to hit a bicyclist about 5 km away in Brooklyn, local media reported.
Police said they also recovered a revolver in searching the suspect's home.
While asking for security measures to protect mosques, speakers at the traditional Islamic funeral service believed the murders were hate crimes against the Islamic faith, and that the victims were targeted.
They also deemed it necessary for authorities to beef up security at the Muslim-populated Ozone Park and other similar parts of the New York City.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told the mourners that the entire city was "mourning with you."
He promised earlier in a statement that "our NYPD will bring this killer to justice."
The shootings occurred around 2:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) near the Al-Furqan Masjid Mosque where the two victims were attending their Saturday afternoon prayers.
The two men in traditional Muslim garb were both shot in the head from close range. The male killer, described by witnesses as dark-haired, bearded and with glasses, approached them from behind and fled with a gun in his hand, according to police. Surveillance footage showed the suspect tailing the victims.
Imam Akonjee moved to the United States from Bangladesh two years ago, said media reports. 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.
Bangladeshi State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Shahriar Alam has denounced the shootings as a "cowardly act on peace-loving people."
(APD)
