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The Fire Rises 2023
A imam and a friend heading home from prayers at a Queens mosque were gunned down Saturday in what authorities are investigating as a hate crime.
One of the men was killed in the 2 p.m. shooting near 79th Street and Liberty Avenue in Ozone Park, police said.
One victim was shot in the head, while the other took a bullet to the chest, sources said. They were taken to Jamaica Hospital, where the survivor is in critical condition. Authorities didn’t immediately identify the victims, or say which was killed.
Thara Uddin, 60, was praying with the imam at Al Furqan Jame Masjid on 77th Street and Glenmore Avenue before the shooting. Uddin and the imam were walking home when they were shot.
Uddin is clinging to life, his brother Mashuk told The Post. “I saw him. His eyes were closed … his body is shaking. I am very scared,” Mashuk Uddin said.
Other members of the Uddin family were very distraught, he said.
Asked whether the shooting was a hate crime, Mashuk Uddin said, “Yes. I am worried for my children, my wife.”
But the younger Uddin didn’t know who would want to hurt his brother.
“I don’t even know, nobody knows what’s going on,” he said, throwing up his hands.
One resident heard two shots, then more.
“First it was two, and then he goes, ‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’ ” said the resident, who didn’t want to be named.
He looked out to see a man with a gun running down the street.
It appeared the shooter picked his targets, the resident said.
“There was a carload of people across the street, and a girl across the street, and he just targeted these two guys,” the resident said.
Donna Jag, 49, at first thought the shots were a car backfiring until she left her house to find a huge crowd of distraught people on the street.
“It was chaos,” she said. “I was nervous. The neighborhood is quiet, but now, it’s kind of scary, right at my doorstep in broad daylight.”
The neighborhood is a mix of residences and businesses, but people of different faiths have long gotten along peacefully, Jag said.
“We have Hindus and Muslims here, and we have no problems. This is really, really shocking,” she said.
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Photo: William Miller
The violence quickly heightened tensions in the neighborhood, where residents didn’t hesitate to label the shooting a hate crime — and pinned the blame on Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has been accused of stoking racism with his campaign.
“Donald Trump is responsible!” some in the crowd yelled. Others chanted, “We want justice today, not tomorrow!”
and“Hate crime!”
Kobri Chowdhury, 40, the leader of nearby Masjid al Amam, said the shooting is “just point blank [a] hate crime, hating Muslims.”
The victim “looked Muslim in every aspect. They shot him because of his looks. It could have been me,” Chowdhury said.
Anowar Miah, 28, is a hotel supervisor who works nearby and prays at the mosque.
“This is not how I want my community to be. This is not how I want my kids to grow up,” he said, adding, “The guy didn’t get robbed. He had been targeted.”
Miah blamed the heated political rhetoric of this year’s presidential campaign, for increased tensions against Muslims.
“It is an ongoing battle just because of what the politicians have to say about Islam — ‘Islam is this, Islam is that.’”
Another longtime resident, Millat Uddin, 60, said, “It seems like somebody has taken the law into their hands and our community is feeling very insecure.”
its too hot for this mess...
