NEW YORK _ Outraged members of the Islamic community in Queens rallied on Saturday evening, hours after an Ozone Park imam and his assistant were shot and killed on the street two blocks from their mosque.
NYPD officials said they had not determined a motive in the afternoon shooting deaths of Maulama Akomjee, 55, an imam at the al-Furqan Jame Masjid, and Thara Uddin, 64, of Queens. Uddin was identified as an assistant imam at the mosque by the Council on American-Islamic Relations in New York.
The two victims were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in critical condition, where first Akomjee, then Uddin were pronounced dead Saturday.
The gunman, who wore a dark polo shirt and shorts, was seen on video surveillance and by witnesses running from the scene with a gun, police said.
At a news conference hours after the 1:50 p.m. shooting, Deputy Inspector Hank Sautner of the NYPD Queens South Detective Bureau said there was no indication that the shooting was a hate crime.
But many in the community believed the men were targeted for their religion.
About 100 residents stood on Liberty Avenue under the train tracks Saturday evening _ many wearing traditional religious attire _ shouting: "We want justice!" and "We say hate crime!"
Mohammed Mannan, 65, said he attended the mosque Saturday morning with the imam and said he believes Akomjee was targeted, because the imam's beard, cap and tunic made it was clear he was Muslim.
"Who killed him? We want justice," Mannan said. "He's an innocent man."
"We have a senior liaison with the Muslim community on-site to ensure mosque congregants and the neighborhood receive all the support and information they need during this difficult time," Mayor Bill de Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips said in a statement. "While it is too early to tell what led to these murders, it is certain that the NYPD will stop at nothing to ensure justice is served."
New York City Councilman Eric Ulrich, a Republican, spoke into a megaphone during the rally and told the crowd, "Justice will be served in Ozone Park."
"There's no evidence to suggest this was a hate crime as of right now," Ulrich said later in an interview. "This was a heinous act that happened in broad daylight."
Abdul Azeem Khan, an imam from Jamaica, came to the scene of the shooting to offer moral support to the Ozone Park community.
He said the community doesn't know what led to the killings, but that the current climate toward Muslims and the proposed immigration ban by Donald Trump hurts the community.
"Tension is growing," Khan said. "People think Muslims are bad people. Donald Trump is sending the wrong message."
Habeeb Ahmed, a leader with the Islamic Center of Long Island in Westbury, said he considered the shootings a "hate crime in broad daylight."
"Islamophobia is so rampant and some presidential candidates are fanning these flames," Ahmed said.
Trump's campaign issued a statement Saturday after the shootings.
"To blame any political candidate for these murders is a highly irresponsible and obviously politically motivated attempt to push an agenda," the statement read. "Mr. Trump opposes crime and violence in any form and, as president, will work with law enforcement and community leaders to create an environment where tragedies like this never happen again."
