Funeral held for Queens stabbing victim as investigation continues
JAMAICA, Queens (WABC) -- A funeral was held Friday for the 60-year-old woman who was stabbed to death in Queens Wednesday night as she walked home from a grocery store with her husband.
Services for Nazma Khanam were held at the Jamaica Muslim Center on 168th Street in Jamaica. After that, her body will be sent back to Bangladesh for burial.
The incident happened around 9:15 p.m. on Normal Road in Jamaica, near where she and her husband own a small gift shop. On Thursday night, police released video of a person-of-interest in the case.
For the Muslim community in the area, though, it has been two days of uncertainty and pain.
"I saw my mother's body dead body," son Naimul Alam Khan said. "It's very hard. It's very difficult for me and for my family."
The mother of three was mourned for at the center, where the lines between grief and anger were blurred as the NYPD searches for person who murdered a beloved woman..
"Really I need a good justice,"Khan said. "We're looking for that."
Hundreds came out from the Muslim community for the joint afternoon prayer and funeral service for the retired teacher and immigrant from Bangladesh, and as they entered, red and white signs calling for an end to hate greeted them at the front gate.
"This is terrible," friend Deba Hussein said. "She was a wonderful woman, worked hard with her husband, and it's terrible. I don't know why people are doing this."
The person of interest was spotted on surveillance video on the same sidewalk where Khanam was killed about a minute before someone stabbed her in her chest and and left the knife inside her body.
"What took place on Wednesday night is very unfortunate," nephew Humayun Kabir said. "A simple person who is walking back home after work was brutally stabbed and murdered."
Khanam wasn't robbed, and police continue to investigate the possible motive. The Muslim community is asking police to beef if patrols in their neighborhood.
"Regarding this one, what you are interested in is if the crime is a hate crime," worshipper Mohammed Hussein said. "We have to be very careful in saying. Then, she is a martyr."
No other details about the person-of-interest were released.
