Police suspect robbery attempt.
AB Wire
A Muslim doctor was shot and stabbed in Houston, Texas, while he was on his way to a nearby mosque for morning prayers on Sunday, reported The Independent. The victim, identified as Arslan Tajammul, an eye specialist, was shot twice and is in a critical condition.
Reports say that the man in his 30s was walking towards Madrasah Islamiah after parking his car. Then three masked men approached him, stabbed and shot him. The assailants escaped from the scene immediately.
“It is very scary right now given the current political climate,” Mohammed Imaduddin, a spokesperson for the Madrasah Islamiah Masjid Noor mosque told local news agencies.
However, the doctor managed to reach the mosque for seeking help. The people who were inside the mosque called an ambulance and the victim was taken to the hospital immediately.
According to The Houston Police, the victim will have to remain in the intensive care unit for 24 hours.
While there is no confirmation regarding the motive of the attack, some media reported that it was a theft attempt. “Police said it was an attempted robbery so we’re waiting to see what the investigation finds,” Mustafaa Carroll, executive director of the Houston branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was quoted as saying by evening standard.
“It’s a real strange occurrence because the mosque is in a poor neighborhood, and they were wearing masks, which could mean all kinds of things,” he added.
The police haven’t got any evidence to prove a hate crime yet. But, a member of the mosque told ABC 13-TV that nothing was stolen from the victim.
“These anti-Muslim attacks need to stop. Innocent people are getting hurt. This is what they want, Americans attacking fellow Americans,” Mufti Mohammed Wasim Khan, a Madrasah Islamiah official, told Al Jazeera.
On Saturday, a Muslim man was attacked outside Florida’s Fort Pierce Islamic Center, the mosque attended by Orlando nightclub terrorist Omar Mateen.
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Strange, this showed up as new on Google.