An imam was murdered yesterday Wednesday outside an Islamic mosque in Newark, near New York, according to officials, who appeared to rule out the possibility that it was a crime of a racist or terrorist nature.

“We do not yet know the motive for this crime,” but “the evidence gathered so far does not indicate an act motivated by racial prejudice or domestic terrorism,” said the attorney general during a press conference. Attorney General) of New Jersey, Matthew Platkin.

Mr. Platkin and his Essex County deputy, Ted Stevens, said that Imam Hassan Sharif, a figure in the local community in Newark, was hit by bullets in the middle of the road early yesterday and succumbed after being taken to a hospital.

Mr. Stevens also appeared to rule out the scenario that this was a “terrorist” act, that is, an act by followers of the theory of “white supremacy”.

Initially, the public security services of Newark told AFP yesterday morning that the imam was wounded by bullets in front of the Islamic mosque in the industrial and multicultural city west of Manhattan, on the other side of the Hudson River.

CNN was the first media outlet to report that the victim had surrendered, citing police sources.

Hassan Sharif had been working since 2006 at Newark Liberty International Airport security, a spokeswoman for the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said in an email.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of his passing and extend our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues,” he said.

Before his death became known, Phil Murphy, the governor of New Jersey, home to hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Jews, assured “the Muslim community and believers of all faiths that everything will be done for their safety.”

For its part, the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called for a rally at the Newark mosque to “demand that the perpetrators of the attack on Hassan Sharif surrender” to the authorities.

The same organization urged “all mosques to keep their doors open” but to be vigilant, given “the recent increase in intolerance and sectarianism against Muslims”.

Since the war broke out in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement, there have been many protests, inter-communal tensions and some sporadic violent incidents in the US, especially in New York and surrounding areas (Northeast).

In New York City alone, which has a population of 8.5 million, there are almost 2 million American Jews and hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Muslims.

New York’s Israeli community is the second largest in the world, behind only that of Israel itself.

Mr. Platkin acknowledged that given “international developments” and the rise of “prejudice against our state’s communities, especially Muslim communities,” many in New Jersey “feel more fearful and anxious.”