Cops searching the home of a man suspected of gunning down a Queens imam and his friend, found a revolver and clothes Monday that matched what the shooter wore in a video of the attack, sources said.
The discovery led to second-degree murder charges against 35-year-old Oscar Morel, in a shooting carried out execution-style Saturday, in the heat of a summer afternoon, police said.
Morel, who lives in a basement apartment in East New York, Brooklyn, was spotted on surveillance footage in Ozone Park around the time of the brazen shooting, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.
Police said witnesses saw his black Chevy TrailBlazer flee the scene of the shooting.
“We believe, because of the evidence we’ve acquired thus far, that we strongly believe this is the individual,” Boyce said.
His brother, Alvin Morel, was stunned to learn the news.
“This is nothing like him. My brother is a decent person,” he insisted.
“I don’t know what happened. I’ve been trying to reach him all day,” he said, adding their mother was sick with cancer.
The family had no gripes with Muslims, he said.
“The only time we felt, everybody in New York felt, a hatred, was during 9/11. Other than that, we never felt a hatred with nobody.”
In a posting on his Facebook page, Alvin Morel made a heartfelt plea for his family Monday night.
“I can’t believe what has happened …. GOD help my brother mother father and myself,” he said.
Oscar Morel’s landlord said the 35-year-old had moved in seven months ago.
“He had a girlfriend, but he lives alone, he was always very nice. He told me he works cleaning in a school,” said Amado Baptista, 59.
He said he never heard Morel express dislike of Muslims or any religion.
“He never talked about anything like that. I don’t understand how he could have done anything like this,” he said.
The suspected killer — who carried out the shooting with ruthless efficiency, blasting both Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 65, in the head at close range around 1:50 p.m. Saturday — became reckless after pulling the trigger, police said.
Ten minutes after the pious men were shot three times total, the driver of the TrailBlazer and a cyclist exchanged words at the intersection of Pine St. and Pitkin Ave. in East New York, police said.
The cyclist then rode away, but the driver pursued and rammed him, cops said.
The hit-and-run occurred 3 miles from the shooting. The cyclist was not seriously hurt, cops said.
Boyce said the same TrailBlazer was used to flee the shooting and hit the cyclist.
“They were identical. We looked at the stickers, the decals, on each of the windshields,” Boyce said.
That match led investigators to Morel’s home.
When detectives approached him after he got into his TrailBlazer at 10 p.m. Sunday, Morel used it as a weapon again, Boyce said.
“He rammed the detectives’ car several times in an effort to get away. He was placed under arrest without any further incident,” Boyce said.
Morel, who has one prior arrest — for misdemeanor pot possession — admitted to having been in Ozone Park, a police source said. But he asked for a lawyer when cops queried him about the killings.
He had no known links to Ozone Park or the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque. The motive remained a mystery.
“Right now, we can’t explain why this person was there. He was there just prior to (the shooting). We have him on video about eight minutes prior to the homicide,” Boyce said.
Detectives were also working a theory that somebody hired Morel as a hit man.
Morel was taken from the 107th Precinct stationhouse Monday night wearing a tan uniform shirt with “Oscar” embroidered on it with the words “New School Facilities Management.” He was awaiting arraignment.