the shooting death of a Muslim leader in Newark is sending shock waves through the community a day after Imam Hassan Sharif was fatally shot outside a mosque in the city his killer remains at large and his family is searching for answers authorities say they found the Imam lying in the parking lot just after pre-dawn prayer with multiple gunshot wounds about 10 feet from the mosque entrance on the corner of South Orange Avenue and Camden Street investigators are pouring through security footage and city-owned street cameras to try to get an ID on the shooter but so far they say the evidence doesn't indicate the Act was motivated by bias or domestic terrorism members of the mosque and other Muslims in the community are taking issue with that assessment at a time when most were already on high alert Ted Goldberg has the latest it's a deep loss for both Newark as a whole uh the black Muslim Community the Muslim Community Community as a whole it's it's jarring it's worrying it's it's horrifying and the community right now is um is in deep pain and in deep deep grief and mourning Muslims in Newark are continuing to pray at Mid Muhammad Newark one day after their Imam Hassan Sharif was shot and killed just outside their house of worship Imam Hassan Sharif was a community leader in New York he was a father he was a husband the impact on the community of this sort of particularly dastardly crime cannot be understated the investigation hasn't led to any arrests yet and has only Amplified fear around religious institutions despite a vigil last night bringing hundreds of MERS to Newark all of our religious institutions have been on edge for quite some time we along with our partners have been uh aggressively patrolling the area along with Nork and everyone else every religious institution our obom squad has been very very busy of late and we'll continue to make sure that we provide safety for all of our religious institutions attorney general Matt plen ruled out the possibility of a hate crime or domestic terrorism while we would orderly ordinarily not go public with this type of information so early in our process we know and I know that in light of global events and with a rise and bias directed at many communities we're experiencing across our state but particularly the Muslim Community there are many in New Jersey right now who are feeling a heightened sense of fear anxiety Care New Jersey Communications manager Dina Sayad Ahmed says it's too soon to rule that out it feels disingenuous for authorities to jump to the conclusion that there is no bias motivation because it's over 24 hours since the shooting and there still is no susp suspect in custody so it's hard to say what the motive is when there's there's really nothing that the authorities have given us whether it is or it isn't it's an opportunity for us to condemn hate crimes of any kind whether it's islamophobia phobia whether it's anti-Semitism or any other hate crimes that have exploded of light S Ahmed says she's also upset at the speculation around the imam's death the Essex County prosecutor's office says he was shot multiple times but didn't give many more details within hours we've been seeing headlines um saying that the that there is no bias motivation that um you know others saying that oh it's just another day of violence in New York uh which is very dismissive and we're calling on authorities to do their due diligence and to investigate this uh incident thoroughly and to ensure that the IM and his community do receive Justice leaders say New Jersey's houses of worship will continue seeing more police as they have since the Israel Hamas War started back in October there's a reward for anyone who gives information leading to closing this case Essex County Crim Stoppers is offering $25,000 for info leading to an arrest while K New Jersey has put up 10,000 for info leading to an arrest and conviction in nework I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight News [Music]