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'Somebody Killed Me!' Aunt of NYPD Officer Shouts After Stabbing: Family

By  Trevor Kapp Aidan Gardiner and Murray Weiss | September 1, 2016 8:08am | Updated on September 1, 2016 2:35pm

 Nazma Khanam, a former teacher from Bangladesh, was killed near her Jamaica Hills home, police said.
Nazma Khanam, a former teacher from Bangladesh, was killed near her Jamaica Hills home, police said.
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DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp and Handout

JAMAICA HILLS — The aunt of an NYPD officer was fatally stabbed in a possible robbery as she walked home with her husband in Queens on Wednesday night, family said.

Nazma Khanam, a 60-year-old former English teacher from Bangladesh, was stabbed in the torso outside 160-12 Normal Rd., near 160th Street, as she and her husband returned from their small souvenir shop in Jamaica about 9:15 p.m., NYPD officials said.

They'd stopped to get groceries on their way home, but Khanam walked about two blocks up a hill ahead of her 75-year-old husband, who was delayed by his ailing health, relatives said.

"When he started to walk, he heard somebody screaming, 'Somebody killed me! Somebody killed me!'" said nephew Mohammed M. Rahman, 47.

"He didn't realize it was his wife screaming. He told me when he got closer, he knows her voice. She lay down. He asked her what happened and he felt blood on his hands. He was asking, 'What happened? What happened?'" Rahman added.

Khanam was taken to Jamaica Hospital and her husband and some relatives followed, family said. About 10 p.m., they found out Khanam died.

"He fell down and was crying," Rahman said. "We're really sad. We didn't expect that."

The husband, a former college chemistry professor, and wife had emigrated from Bangladesh about 2010 with their two sons and daughter "for a better life," family and friends said.

Her body will be sent back to Bangladesh, according to the NYPD Muslim Officers Society.

Khanam, who is the aunt of a Muslim NYPD officer in Transit District Two in TriBeCa, may have been killed in a botched robbery, officials said.

Some relatives, however, believe that Khanam, who frequently wears traditional Muslim clothing, was targeted in a hate crime.

"She's always covered. They didn't take her phone, her pocket book, her bag. We feel this is a hate crime," Rahman said.

The NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force is also looking into the homicide as a possible hate crime, a police spokesman said.

Friends were left distraught and seeking answers Khanam's murder.

"Anybody can say anything. It could be a hate crime. it could be a robbery. It could be neither. We don't know," said friend Syed Ahmed, 47.

"We know it happened, but as far as why, we don't know," Ahmed said.

Investigators a reviewing video of the killing that shows a figure run up to Khanam, who's alone, and then flee, sources said.

There were no immediate arrests, and an NYPD spokesman didn't have any description of the suspect.

In the meantime, friends and family are grieving over the sudden murder of the former language teacher.

"She was a fantastic lady. She was a nice lady. She was an ex-teacher in Bangladesh. Her husband was an ex-college professor. It's a shock for everybody," the friend added.

"She was a very simple lady, a quiet lady. The mother and sons were so very close," Ahmed added.

Those who knew Khanam hope her killer is brought to justice soon, but in the meantime, they're left reeling with grief.

"[Her husband] is very upset. He's been married a long time. He was used to her. She was used to him. Now, somebody's missing," Ahmed said.

There will be a viewing for Khanam about 8 p.m. Thursday at the Paak Funeral Home at 5834 Catalpa Ave. Her funeral will be held Friday about 2 p.m. at the Jamaica Muslim Center at 85-37 168th St.