8 The Courier sun • AUGUST 25, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com a most violent MONTH ALLEGED KILLER OF OZONE PARK IMAM INDICTED ON MURDER ONE BY ROBERT POZARYCKI [email protected]/@robbpoz A grand jury handed down on Aug. 22 a first-degree murder charge for a Brooklyn man accused of executing an Ozone Park imam and his assistant on a neighborhood street earlier this month. Oscar Morel, 35, was arrested on Aug. 15 for fatally Photo courtesy of New York Daily News shooting Imam Brooklyn’s Oscar Morel was Maulana Akonjee indicted on Aug. 22 on a firstdegree and Thara Uddin murder charge for on the afternoon of Aug. 13 as they walked home from afternoon prayers at the Al-Furquan Jame Masjid mosque on Glenmore Avenue in Ozone Park. The grand jury’s indictment of Morel on Aug. 22 includes one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder Photo via Facebook/Kimberly Graves, with inset via Instagram White balloons head to the sky in Howard Beach on Aug. 16 in memory of Karina Vetrano. allegedy killing an Ozone Park imam on Aug. 13. A memorial walk and a possible lead and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. He remains held in jail without bail. The first-degree murder count, he noted, reflects that Morel allegedly acted with intent to cause someone’s death. “The defendant’s alleged actions strike at the very heart of our county’s Muslim community,” Brown said in a statement on Monday. “Both victims were gentle men of peace and their deaths are a devastating loss to their families and the community that they served.” Law enforcement sources said Morel walked up to the imam and Uddin in the vicinity of 79th Street and Liberty Avenue at about 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 13. Without saying a word, he allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Akonjee and Uddin in the head, then fled the scene. Both men were rushed to local hospitals and later died of their injuries. Police tracked down Morel following an extensive investigation that linked him to a hit-and-run accident that occurred in East New York just moments after the shooting. The gun allegedly used in the double homicide was found hidden inside a wall in Morel’s residence. The motive remains unknown and under investigation; in an interview with the New York Daily News from his jail cell, Morel claimed that he wasn’t the man who pulled the trigger. If convicted of first-degree murder, Morel faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, Brown stated. in the Karina Vetrano murder case By Robert Pozarycki [email protected]/@robbpoz Two weeks after a horrifying crime that shook the entire community, scores of Howard Beach residents came together just before sunset on Aug. 16 for a memorial walk that followed in the final footsteps of Karina Vetrano. The 30-year-old Vetrano went for a run from her 84th Street home in Howard Beach on the late afternoon on Aug. 2 and never returned home. Her body was discovered hours later in a marshy portion of the Gateway National Recreational Area, about a half-mile from where she lived. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death, and her killer remains at large. Led by Vetrano’s parents, Phil and Cathy, the Aug. 16 walk started near 84th Street and followed the path near Gateway where she regularly jogged with her father, who couldn’t run with Karina on Aug. 2 due to an ailing back. The participants then walked to the parking lot of St. Helen’s Church on 157th Avenue and 84th Street for a moment of silence. Cathy Vetrano thanked the community for their outpouring of support as well as the Police Department for their ongoing efforts to find the person or persons who killed her daughter. “The people here, every single one of them, have taken us into their arms and hearts and held us together through this. We just want everyone to know that we appreciate every little thing and every prayer,” she said. “I also, on behalf of Phil and I, cannot say enough about our Police Department that we should all support continuously and pray for them continuously, because they are the most amazing people that you will ever, ever know.” At the conclusion, the participants released white balloons into the air to honor both Karina Vetrano’s memory and the ongoing effort to bring her killer to justice. Over the last three weeks, Howard Beach residents have come together to offer any support they can to the Vetrano family. They’ve raised in excess of $200,000 in an online campaign to a build a reward for the person who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the murderer. This will supplement the $25,000 reward already being offered by the NYPD, Crime Stoppers and other organizations. Leads in the case have been difficult for police to attain. DNA evidence recovered from a sneaker and a set of earphones from the crime scene did not match any existing profile in the state DNA databank. The Crime Stoppers hotline received a number of tips found to be non-substantive, police officials noted. However, at a press conference outside their home Thursday, Phil and Cathy Vetrano indicated that police have “a number of strong leads.” They also made a public appeal to an unidentified woman in the area whom they claimed is a relative of their daughter’s murderer, according to WABC-TV. “We know there is a family member of the killer that we need for them to come forward, to finalize this very quickly,” Phil Vetrano told WABC-TV. “She is in great distress. We know she wants to make that call. Make that call. The money is there. I guarantee the money. If she waits any longer, someone else is going to claim that fund. The time is now to make that call and get that money.” Anyone with information about the Karina Vetrano case that can prove helpful is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS, visit their website or send a text message to 274637 (CRIMES), then enter TIP577. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
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