New York City police are seeking three men over the killing of 23-year-old Rabie Muhammed – who has Guyanese roots – after she refused to give up her purse in Queens, New York on Sunday.
The police have released surveillance video as they try to find the three men. The men are all between 20 and 25 years old and wore red hooded sweatshirts, the NY1 television station reported on its website. Police say the trio approached Muhammed and her husband while they walked on 204th Street in Hollis, Queens around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Investigators say the men asked for her purse, but when she refused and held onto it they shot her twice in her torso. Muhammed died at the hospital. Police say Muhammed had $20 in her purse. Her husband was not hurt.
The husband’s brother, who only gave his first name, Shameed told the New York Daily News that he cannot imagine that his sister-in-law would have fought with her attackers.
“I don’t think she put up a fight,” he said. “They never go out looking for trouble.”
The muggers fled without the purse, police said. No arrests have been made.
Mohammed lived in Queens Village, about a mile from where she was killed. She did clerical work at a Manhattan office, and her husband is a shopkeeper in Manhattan, Shameed said. “She’s a loyal wife and a good person,” he said. “I have no idea why anybody would want to attack them.”
“They wanted to have children,” he said. “They are both loving people. I am still trying to cope with this. This should not have happened at all.”
