A New York imam and his assistant were shot dead in Queens this Saturday Imam Maulama Akonjee and his friend were executed in the head as the pair walked home from prayers at a nearby mosque "These were two very beloved people. These were community leaders," Afaf Nasher, of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, expressed Dozens of people from the nearby Muslim community gathered at the scene waving signs and chanting "We want justice"