8 THE COURIER SUN • JANUARY 5, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com 2016 YEAR IN REVIEW AUGUST Ozone Park imam executed in cold blood The bloody summer in the “World’s Borough” continued on Aug. 13 when Oscar Morel, 35, of East New York shot Imam Maulana Akonjee and his assistant Thara Uddin in the head on 79th Street near the intersection of Liberty Avenue in Ozone Park. Morel was arrested on Aug. 16 and was charged with first- and second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Commissioner Bratton calls it quits In August, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announced that he would be retiring in September, and then-Chief of the Department James O’Neill would be taking his place. Bratton served two stints as Police Commissioner — once under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the mid-1990s, and again under current Mayor Bill de Blasio. O’Neill, a native of Flatbush, Brooklyn, committed himself to continue strengthening the relationship between the police force and the people of New York City. City eyes homeless shelter in Maspeth Early August saw the contentious start of what would quickly become known as the Maspeth Shelter War. Residents and several civic organizations banded together to fight Mayor Bill de Blasio’s attempt at turning a Holiday Inn Express into a homeless shelter after a closed-door meeting between city officials and community leaders. In the coming weeks and months, rallies were organized outside of the hotel and even the homes of the city’s Department of Social Services (DSS) Commissioner Steven Banks and the owner of the Holiday Inn, Harshad Patel. The unsolved murder of Karina Vetrano Howard d Beach h mourned dhl the loss of f 30-year-old ld Karina Vetrano who was savagely raped and strangled during a nighttime jog in Spring Creek Park on Aug. 2. What is even more disturbing about the case is that cops didn’t know — and still do not know — who committed the heinous crime. In the months following her murder, Vetrano’s family offered large sums of money as a reward to anyone who would come forward with information on their daughter’s death, but still no solid leads came. Residents of Howard Beach remained on edge, fearing for their safety. The investigation into her murder remains ongoing.
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