(New York) An imam was shot and killed Wednesday outside a mosque in Newark, near New York, according to officials who ruled out a racist crime.
“We do not yet know the motive for this crime (but) the evidence gathered so far does not indicate an act motivated by prejudice or domestic terrorism,” the prosecutor declared during a press briefing. General of the State of New Jersey (equivalent to local Minister of Justice, Editor’s note), Matthew Platkin.
The magistrate and his deputy for Essex County, Ted Stephens, indicated that Imam Hassan Sharif, a local figure in Newark and who was also a security guard at Newark International Airport, had been hit by several bullets fired in the middle of the street on Wednesday at dawn and that he died in the afternoon in hospital.
Mr. Stephens also ruled out “terrorism” in reference to racist killings by white supremacists.
Newark’s public security services told AFP in the morning that the imam had been seriously injured by one or more shots in front of the mosque of this industrial and multicultural city west of Manhattan, on the other side of the Hudson River.
The CNN channel was the first to announce the death of the victim, citing a police source.
Furthermore, “Hassan Sharif had been a security officer at Newark Liberty International Airport since 2006,” a spokesperson for the American Transportation Security Agency (TSA) responded in an email.
“We are deeply saddened to learn of his death and send our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues,” she confirmed to AFP.
” To be careful “
Before the announcement of the death, the Democratic governor of New Jersey Phil Murphy, where hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Jews reside, “assured the Muslim community and the faithful of all beliefs that everything would be done for their safety” .
For its part, the New Jersey branch of the association for the defense of American Muslims, Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), organized a rally at the Newark mosque to “demand that the shooter(s) against Hassan Sharif surrender” to the authorities.
The group “advised all mosques to keep their doors open but to remain cautious given the recent rise in intolerance and bigotry against Muslims.”
Since the start of the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas, the United States and in particular New York and its region, in the northeast of the country, have been shaken by a number of demonstrations, community tensions and some sporadic violence. .
New York City alone, populated by 8.5 million people, has nearly two million Jewish Americans, the second largest population after Israel, and hundreds of thousands of Muslims.
Mr. Platkin acknowledged that “in light of international events, with a surge in prejudice against many communities in our state – particularly Muslims – many in New Jersey are feeling more fear and fear.”