On Saturday, August 13, 2016, 64-year-old Thara Uddin was shot in the head and killed while walking home from afternoon prayers in Ozone Park, Queens. He was accompanied by 55-year-old Imam Maulana Akonjee; both men, dressed in religious attire, were shot at close range by a lone gunman near the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid. Both victims were transported to a hospital and pronounced dead.

Surveillance video showed the shooter fleeing in a dark-colored SUV. About ten minutes after the attack, the same SUV was involved in a hit-and-run with a bicyclist three miles away. Police traced the vehicle to a Brooklyn address and watched it. When 35-year-old Oscar Morel entered the SUV the following day, detectives approached; he attempted to flee by ramming his car but was apprehended. A search turned up a .38 caliber revolver and clothing matching the surveillance footage, and ballistics linked the gun to the murders.

Morel was charged with multiple counts including murder. The community and victims’ families believed the men were targeted for their Muslim faith, though prosecutors did not officially label the killings a hate crime.