NEWARK (New Jersey, US), Jan 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A New Jersey imam was shot and killed on Wednesday outside a mosque in the state’s largest city, authorities said as officers worked to identify and arrest the shooter.
The cleric, Imam Hassan Sharif, was shot after 6am outside the Masjid-Muhammad-Newark mosque, Newark’s public safety director, Fritz Fragé, said in an emailed statement. Sharif was taken to nearby University hospital and was in critical condition, authorities said. He later succumbed to his injuries.
When police arrived to the scene, they found Sharif lying in the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds, 10 feet from the mosque entrance. He had bullet wounds in his abdomen and left arm.
Officials say they don’t yet know what the motive of the shooting was, if there was one, but they say it does not appear to be an act motivated by bias or domestic terrorism.
“The impact on the community of this sort of particularly dastardly crime cannot be understated,” said Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens.
People in the area say they believe this shooting had nothing to do with the crisis in the Middle East or ethnic or religious bias. Instead, they blame the ongoing crisis of violence in the neighborhood.
Investigators are now going through security and city-owned street cameras to determine whether they could spot an assailant. Bullet casings have also been retrieved are being analyzed.
As word spread that Sharif was critically shot, some of those whose lives he touched raced to his mosque.
“I got up out of my bed and drove from South Jersey, just to say a prayer for him,” said Aneesah Abdullah, a friend of Sharif. “He’s a wonderful human being. I have nothing negative to say about him and I don’t think anyone in the community will. He did everything for churches and mosques and synagogues. I don’t care what kind of religion you’re in, he wasn’t racist.”
Sharif was also a Transportation Security Officer at Newark Liberty International Airport since 2006.
“TSOs serve diverse populations of travelers to secure the nation’s transportation systems. We are deeply saddened to learn of his passing and send our condolences to his family, friends and co-workers,” a spokesperson for the TSA said in a statement.
Gov. Phil Murphy released a statement asking for anyone with information to come forward.
“At a time when the Muslim community is concerned by an increase of bias incidents and crimes, I want to assure the Muslim community and people of all faiths that we will do everything in our power to keep all residents safe, especially in or near our houses of worship,” the statement said in part.
Hours later, police had no one in custody. It is unclear what led to the violence and if the imam was targeted. Fragé said the shooting was under investigation and no other information was available.
A message seeking more information was left with the mosque.
The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said it was gathering information and urged people to contact local police.
“We are deeply concerned about this incident and pray for the speedy recovery of the imam,” a Cair-NJ spokesperson, Dina Sayedahmed, said in a statement. — NNN-AGENCIES