A grand jury returned a five-count indictment on Monday charging 35-year-old Brooklyn man Oscar Morel with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Iman Maulana Akonjee and his associate Thara Uddin.
The two were walking home following afternoon prayers at the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in Ozone Park on August 13, when they were killed.
“The defendant’s alleged actions strike at the very heart of our county’s Muslim community,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in an statement, accompanying the news. “Both victims were gentle men of peace and their deaths are a devastating loss to their families and the community that they served. I extend my deepest condolences to the families of the victims and assure them that the law enforcement community will work tirelessly to ensure that justice is done in this case.”
The indictment charges Morel with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
Just days after the double homicide, police arrested Morel after he allegedly hit a cyclist and fled the scene. The cyclist gave a description of the vehicle and the plate number and it matched the description of the one captured leaving the scene of the murder.
After Morel was placed under arrest, a subsequent search yielded a .38 caliber Taurus revolver hidden in a wall, which police believe may have been the murder weapon.
Morel has been held on bail since his arrest and will be arraigned on the indictment at a later date in Queens County Supreme Court.
