NEW YORK: A cleric has been shot outside a mosque near York city and is in a critical condition, police said on Wednesday.
Police in the city of Newark, did not give a reason behind the incident.
Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Frage confirmed that police responded to a call of a male shot on Wednesday morning.
Frage said the victim was shifted to a local hospital and is reportedly in serious condition.
Officers confirmed that the man was the cleric and and that the incident took place outside a mosque. Police has launched an investigation of the incident.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, there has been an increase in Islamophobic attacks across the United States.
Images released by the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) showed police vehicles outside the Muhammad-Newark mosque.
CAIR New Jersey communications manager Dina Sayed Ahmed has said that the department is deeply concerned about the shooting incident and pray for the speedy recovery of the cleric. She said that anyone with information about the incident should immediately contact local police.
