INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Donald Trump Blamed For Shocking Murder Of Muslim Man

By Chelsea Hoffman
Published on: 16:48 PST, Aug 13, 2016

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is being blamed for a fatal shooting that was reportedly fueled by anti-Islamic sentiment. Raw Story reports that a New York imam and his assistant were shot on Saturday afternoon, ending in the death of one of the men, and the other injured.

A lone gunman is reportedly responsible for Sunday’s anti-Islamic attack in New York. He fired on the two Muslim friends as they left a Queens mosque, after attending prayer service. Each of the two men were shot in the back of the head, which killed mosque imam Maulama Akonjee.

While Raw Story is reporting this incident as an anti-Islamic attack, New York Daily News reports that authorities haven’t called it that yet. They are currently investigating on whether or not robbery was a motive. News reports are uniting on one detail in this case, however, and that’s that Queens residents appear to be blaming Donald Trump.

A resident of the area shared his sentiment regarding Saturday’s horrifying shooting, and he declared his belief that the Republican presidential candidate is to blame.

“That’s not what America is about. We blame Donald Trump for this. Trump and his drama has created Islamophobia.”

The notoriously outspoken presidential hopeful has long-been criticized for his remarks surrounding Islam, among other topics. Most recently, he’s been interviewed by the Secret Service, after making comments that were reportedly perceived as inciting violence against his opponent, Hillary Clinton. With the recent shooting in New York involving two Muslim men, people are immediately jumping to their own conclusions, and are split on whether or not they agree that Trump is to blame for the shocking incident in Queens.

This isn’t the first time a politician has been blamed for an incident of violence. Sarah Palin was blamed by members of the public, and media pundits, when Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot during an event in Tucson, Arizona.

Media reports in 2011 declared that “blood was on Palin’s hands” after the rep was shot. That’s because Palin had used “crosshairs” in promotional materials that appeared to target the congresswoman’s district.

After a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado was targeted by an alleged domestic terrorist, the GOP came under scrutiny. Even though many Republicans spoke out against the shooting, which took place in 2015, Planned Parenthood directly blamed conservative rhetoric for what happened. Dawn Laguens, vice president of Planned Parenthood, issued a statement showing that sentiment.

“It is offensive and outrageous that some politicians are now claiming this tragedy has nothing to do with the toxic environment they helped create.”

Do you think Donald Trump is truly to blame for the shooting of two Muslim men in New York? Whether his talking points actually “created” Islamophobia, or simply contributed to it, there’s no doubt that the public is divided on their opinions of the man chosen by conservatives to run the country.

In fact, some comments are ranging from joining the blame against Trump, to making full-out racist attacks on the Muslim community.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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