US Imam Is Shot Outside a Mosque and Dies: Official
New York: An American official informed AFP that the imam who was shot on Wednesday outside a mosque close to New York has passed away.
The Newark, New Jersey, police did not provide an explanation for the occurrence.
According to Lisa Farbstein, a spokesperson for the US Transportation Security Administration, where Hassan Sharif was employed, “Hassan Sharif was a Transportation Security Officer at Newark Liberty International Airport since 2006.”
“We are deeply saddened to learn of his passing and send our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.”
It was previously verified by Fritz Frage, the director of public safety in Newark, that “police responded to a call of a male shot” on Wednesday morning.
Police verified that the incident took place outside of a mosque and that the individual was the imam. There is currently an investigation going on.
There has been a rise in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents in the US since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Pictures taken outside the two-story, green and yellow Masjid Muhammad-Newark mosque were released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) branch in New Jersey.
