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Brooklyn Man Questioned in Murder of Imam and Assistant, NYPD Says

By  Trevor Kapp Murray Weiss Aidan Gardiner and Noah  Hurowitz | August 15, 2016 8:01am | Updated on August 15, 2016 7:33pm

 Imam Maulama Akonjee, top left, and Thara Uddin, bottom left, was gunned down in Ozone Park Saturday by a man who can be seen in a police sketch, right, police said.
Imam Maulama Akonjee, top left, and Thara Uddin, bottom left, was gunned down in Ozone Park Saturday by a man who can be seen in a police sketch, right, police said.
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DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp, handout and NYPD

OZONE PARK — A Brooklyn man was being questioned Monday about the broad-daylight double shooting that left an imam and his assistant dead in what police are investigating as a possible hate crime, NYPD officials said.

The unidentified 36-year-old man, who is the main suspect in the case, was taken into custody Sunday when police tracked him down for a hit-and-run with a cyclist that occurred three miles away, police officials said.

The suspect clipped the cyclist with his Chevy Trailblazer shortly after the shooting, sources said. The man then got out and threatened the cyclist at gunpoint before getting back in and driving away, sources said.

The cyclist took down the driver's license plate number and investigators used motor vehicle records to track him to his East New York home where they lay in wait for more than a day until he left the building around 10 p.m. Sunday, sources and police officials said.

Detectives approached the suspect's car but he rammed a police car several times before he was arrested, NYPD officials said.

"Because of the evidence we've acquired, we strong believe this is the individual," Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said during a press conference Monday evening.

The suspect did not have any known connections to the slain imam. Police officials did not immediately have a motive but "a hate crime is certainly on the table," Boyce said.

The suspect admitted to investigators that he was in the area at the time of the shooting, but asked for a lawyer and stopped answering their questions, sources said.

Sources say the suspect is expected to be charged with the "road rage" clash with the bicyclist, and for possessing a weapon. He had not yet been charged as of Monday evening, an NYPD spokesman said. 

Late Monday afternoon, detectives were seeking court warrants to search his car and home for more clues to his possible role in the twin executions.

The suspect appeared to stalk imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, until they reached Liberty Avenue and 79th Street about 1:50 p.m. Saturday when he raced up behind them and opened fire, sources said.

The victims, who were heading to their homes on 102 Avenue from the mosque, were pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital, police said.

A funeral for the two men was held Monday afternoon.

Akonjee's body will be flown back to his native Bangladesh where his elderly mother still lives.

"She's 97-years-old and lost her son. She wants to see his face again," said Bazlur Rahman, a committee member at the Al-Furqan mosque where Akonjee worked.

Uddin was to be buried in New York, Rahman added.

It wasn't immediately clear what sparked the shooting, but the NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force is involved in the investigation. 

Those who knew Akonjee said he was well-liked and didn't have enemies.

"We miss him and we know we don't replace him. He was one of the best translators for the message of Mohammed," said Badrul Khan, the founder of the Al-Furqan mosque.

"We lost a gentleman, one of the best leaders. This is the best imam we've had. He was unbelievable. He translated what Islam was from the Koran. We know our pain," said Khan, 61.

Khan hopes the shooter is held accountable for the murders

"We want justice. We want him to suffer. He killed two people. They know what to do. He gets punished," he said.

The mayor conveyed the city's shock over the deaths and extended his condolences to the community.

"This weekend our city was stung by violence that devastated a congregation and unsettled a community. When religious leaders are targeted, we all bear the pain those in Ozone Park feel most personally today," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday.

"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. It remains critical that we work to bridge the divides that threaten undermine the greatness of our city and country," the mayor added.