The Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council says a prominent member of the Edmonton Muslim community is in hospital in Houston, Texas after he was shot early Sunday morning.
Mustafa Farooq with the AMPAC said Arslan Tajammul was on the way to morning prayer in southwest Houston when he was shot. Tajammul grew up in Edmonton and moved to Houston a couple of years ago for optometry school, Farooq said.
“This is the Muslim month of Ramadan where Muslims are attempting to purify themselves and he went just as a worshipper,” said Farooq, who has known Tajammul for about a decade. “In light of everything that’s going on it’s just a horrifying incident that one of my good friends growing up was shot.”
“It’s just tough to think about. What’s the world coming to?”
A spokesperson with the Houston Police Department told Global News a man was shot while standing outside a vehicle near an apartment complex down the street from a local mosque at around 5:30 a.m. Victor Senties said the victim was shot during an attempted robbery.
Senties said the victim went up the street to the nearby Madrasah Islamiah Mosque and asked someone to call 911. The man was taken to hospital and is expected to survive, Senties added.
Senties said there is “no indication that this is tied to a hate crime.”
Farooq said many people in Edmonton who know Tajammul are praying for his speedy recovery.
“When he was in Edmonton he was involved in a lot of interfaith work, he was involved in a lot of education, he was also involved in a lot of philanthropy,” he said. “That’s why so many people here in Edmonton know him and love him.”
“We just personally hope for him and for his family that God gives him strength and he has a swift recovery.”
The Houston Police Department said there are no suspects in custody.
Comments