New York – A man suspected of shooting an Imam and his assistant as they left a New York City mosque was arrested and charged with murder late Monday night, New York police said. Police have yet to release a motive behind the killings.

Oscar Morel, 35, of the borough of Brooklyn, was charged just hours after hundreds of mourners gathered for the outdoor funeral of the two men on Monday. The killings in the borough of Queens shocked the neighborhood’s Bangladeshi community.

Morel was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, on Saturday a spokesman for the New York Police Department said.

Morel was also charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Robert Boyce, the New York Police Department’s chief of detectives, told a news conference on Monday that surveillance video showed the suspect getting into a black GMC sport utility vehicle after the shootings.

That vehicle was then involved in a hit-and-run three miles away in Brooklyn shortly afterward. After officers located the SUV, the suspect rammed a detective’s car several times in an attempt to escape, but was arrested, Boyce said.

“Motive right now has not been determined. We’re still drilling down,” he said. Asked if it was being considered a hate crime, Boyce said that is “still certainly on the table.”

“It’s possible it’s a hate crime, or some other motive,” he told the news conference.

An NYPD spokesperson told Asharq al-Awsat on Sunday that investigations were underway to reveal the purpose behind the killing.

On Saturday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group, held a press conference near the crime scene. In a statement, Afaf Nasher, executive director of the New York chapter, pleaded for “anyone with information about this attack to contact appropriate law enforcement authorities.

“The perpetrator of these senseless killings must be swiftly apprehended and face the full force of the law,” he added.

Police had said there was no evidence the men were targeted because of their faith but nothing was being ruled out.

Akonjee was a devout and humble preacher beloved by the area’s Bangladeshi Muslim community, according to those who knew him. Many locals wondered what could have prompted his killing.

A father of seven, Akonjee emigrated to the United States from Bangladesh several years ago, said Badrul Khan, the founder of the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque. He described the slain imam as a man who lived and breathed his religious faith.