http://video-embed.nj.com/services/player/bcpid619329501001?bctid=1115047018001
Katrina Jones ----> Aug 18th, 2011 // No Comment
Share
New York: The Pakistani born US national woman was killed and her husband was wounded in a shooting incident, which authorities said Wednesday was not accidental.
Nazish Noorani, of Brooklyn, New York, and her husband, Kashif Pervaiz, were walking the few blocks from her sister’s home to her father’s house Tuesday night in the small suburban town when they were targeted in the dark street, authorities said.
Noorani was killed and Pervaiz was shot four times, police said. He told authorities there were three attackers, according to Pervaiz’s childhood friend, Hyder Khan.
Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said Wednesday the shooting “appears to be target-specific” and that there was no danger to the general public. He declined to provide any more details, saying it could compromise the investigation.
Pervaiz was able to talk when he was taken to the hospital, family members said.
Noorani was hailed from Karachi, Pakistan, while Pervaiz was originally from Brooklyn, the family said. The couple married six years ago.
The husband s brother, Mansoor Hassan of Brooklyn, told a news agency that the family was waiting for answers about why they were shot, and that he didn’t believe there were any witnesses.
“At nighttime, it s a very dark way, and they don’t have any lights” on the street, Hassan said.
====
Boonton community stunned after fatal shooting shatters quiet neighborhood
Published: Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 9:49 PM Updated: Thursday, August 18, 2011, 11:51 AM
Star-Ledger Staff By Star-Ledger Staff
Follow
Candlelight vigil for Boonton shooting victim Nazish Noorani
Enlarge Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger Lubana Tanbeer, left, is comforted by her relative Razia Zaib while attending a candlelight vigil for Tanbeer's sister Nazish Noorani Wednesday night at the corner of Cedar Street and Cornelia Street in Boonton, just steps away from where Nazish was shot and killed. (Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger) Candlelight vigil for Booton shooting victim Nazish Noorani gallery (7 photos)
BOONTON — They had just finished an evening meal after breaking the daily fast of Ramadan. The couple, together with their 3-year-old son tucked in a carriage, headed up a darkened Cedar Street in Boonton at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday toward her father’s home two blocks away.
Suddenly, at least six gunshots rang out and Nazish Noorani, 27, who was in town with her family to visit her relatives, was dead. A few feet away, Kashif Pervaiz, 26, was hit by at least two bullets. The child was unhurt.
And the Morris County community, which hasn’t seen a homicide in more than a decade, was sent reeling.
Investigators from Boonton and surrounding municipalities combed the neighborhood of single-family homes throughout the day today. No arrests had been made by tonight but new details were emerging about the killing and the couple.
Katie Bakstad, a neighbor who arrived at the scene minutes after the shots were fired, said Noorani was struck directly in the heart and likely died instantly. Bakstad, who is also a first-aid responder, said Noorani was lying on her back, about five feet from the sidewalk.
Her husband was on the other side of the street. He was talking, having suffered gunshot wounds to his ankle and shoulder, Bakstad said. He remained at Morristown Medical Center tonight, authorities said.
Couple shot in Boonton neighborhood while pushing a stroller Couple shot in Boonton neighborhood while pushing a stroller
A mother walking with her husband and 3-year-old daughter in Boonton late Tuesday night was shot and killed. The child, who was in her stroller, was not hurt. Shafiq Hassan, who identified himself as the the father of the man shot, speaks to reporters at the scene. (Video by Robert Sciarrino / The Star-Ledger) Watch video
Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi quickly spiked wild rumors the attack had been a bias crime, instead calling it a "target specific" killing, emphasizing there was no danger to the general public.
The couple were living in Brooklyn but were in Boonton on Tuesday to visit Noorani’s sister and father for Ramadan. When the shooting occurred, they were walking from her sister’s home to her father’s house on Church Street a few blocks away after Iftar, the nightly meal that breaks the daily fast during Ramadan, said Noorani's cousin, 18-year-old Muhammed Khan.
Relatives said today Pervaiz told them the couple was moving back to Boston, where, he said, he was enrolled in a Ph.D. program in structural engineering at Harvard University.
A Harvard spokesman, though, said the university did not have a record for Pervaiz.
"We have not been immediately able to locate a record for a student with that name," the spokesman said tonight.
But for several months recently, the couple had rented an apartment in East Boston, in the shadows of Logan International Airport. Two neighbors at the Waldemar Street building described the couple as friendly but the marriage as strained. Noorani was not always around, they said.
Raul Santamaria, 55, who has lived in the building for four years, said he last saw Pervaiz two or three weeks ago, with a woman who was not his wife. "He was divorced, or getting divorced," Santamaria said.
vigil.JPGSaed Hindash/The Star-LedgerRelatives, friends and neighbors of Nazish Noorani, 27, gathered for a vigil tonight at the corner of Cedar Street and Cornelia Street in Boonton, just steps away from where she was gunned down Tuesday.
"One time I heard them yelling," he said about the couple.
Another neighbor, Dorian Balla, 29, described Pervaiz as "a really good guy." Noorani was quiet and would always say hello, but wasn’t around as much, he said. Balla recounted one incident three or four months ago in which the couple had a heated argument and police were called to the apartment.
He said the couple were yelling at each other, "but the next day they seemed to have worked things out."
Pervaiz, Balla said, was working hard, going for a doctorate in addition to being involved in a side contracting business.
Noorani was a native of Karachi, Pakistan, while Pervaiz is originally from Brooklyn, relatives said. The couple married six years ago in Boonton, a community with a large Pakistani-American population, tying the knot at a Knights of Columbus hall. They also have a 5-year-old son who was not with them at the time of the shooting.
Bianchi, the prosecutor, refused today to provide details about the killing or discuss the couple’s relationship.
But Noorani’s nephew, Ahmer Sultan, 18, of Boonton, said detectives were asking people in the neighborhood about a friend of Pervaiz’s who lives in Brooklyn and operates a towing business.
Boonton shooting leaves mother dead, father injured during evening stroll
Enlarge Star-Ledger Staff Investigators put the baby carriage involved in the incident into an evidence bag at the scene of a multiple shooting in Boonton, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011. (Jerry McCrea/The Star-Ledger) Boonton shooting leaves mother dead, father injured during evening stroll gallery (22 photos)
At the couple’s home in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, Pervaiz’s sister, Zareen Hassan, 23, was overcome with grief.
"We are too in shock right now," she said. "I’m still shocked and I’m still crying."
She said the three-story home, which sits among a row of middle-class single-family homes and apartment buildings, belongs to her father. Pervaiz, his wife and children lived there with other family members, the sister said.
According to a self-published, online autobiography, Pervaiz has advanced degrees in both architecture and structural engineering and cultivates an interest in Russian architecture and self-published a book on the subject in 2010. He has owned Riyaan Developers, a Brooklyn construction firm, since 2007, according to the online posting.
The shooting sparked a wave of unsubstantiated reports early today, some of which authorities flatly rejected. Boonton Police Chief Michael Beltran said there was no indication the shooting was a bias crime, a report that had initially been circulating.
"We’ve had Muslims in this community for over 50 years, and very few problems with hate crimes," he said.
boonton-graphic.jpg
The New York Daily News, citing unnamed sources, reported that Pervaiz had been robbed at gunpoint six months ago in a parking lot in Boston, and investigators are trying to determine if the Boston robbery was related to the Boonton shooting.
Meanwhile, as investigators spent part of the day opening sewer grates searching for a possible murder weapon, family members pleaded for the public’s help in finding the shooter. Early this afternoon, authorities towed a black Infiniti sport utility vehicle from outside the Church Street home of Noorani’s father.
Around midday, a detective knelt in the doorway of the house and spoke to a small child. Pervaiz’s father, Shafiq Hassan, later left with one of the children and drove off in an SUV. Asked if he had spoken to his son, he said, "He’s OK. He’s in surgery." He described his daughter-in-law, who was a stay-at-home mother, as "a nice, smart girl."
The husband’s brother, Mansoor Hassan, of Brooklyn, said the family was waiting for answers, and that he didn’t believe there were any witnesses.
Khan, Noorani's cousin, described the community as safe and quiet, but said at night the streets are not illuminated. "I’ve walked the streets in this town at 1 a.m. alone and no one has ever done anything to me."
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
• Mother fatally shot, father wounded in apparent targeted shooting on Boonton street
• Mother pushing child, 3, in stroller is fatally shot in Boonton
Greg Hudak, a neighbor on William Street about a block away, said he heard several gunshots. "Then a guy was on the ground moaning," he said.
Shaun Gonzalez, who also lives on William Street, distinctly heard six gunshots, which he first thought were firecrackers.
Gonzalez, 25, lives on the first floor, below Noorani’s sister, Lubna Tanbeer, who lives with her husband and three children on the second floor.
The killing left him stunned, he said, and full of questions. "How anything like this could happen to anybody in that family is beyond me. I don’t know why anybody would want to do this to that family."
By Ben Horowitz and Jessica Calefati /The Star Ledger
Staff writers Alexi Friedman, David Giambusso, Richard Khavkine, Dan Goldberg, Seth Augenstein and Julia Terruso, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.
==========
Man who survived wife's fatal shooting may have been cheating, lying about his past
By Matthew Lysiak and Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Originally Published:Thursday, August 18th 2011, 2:52 PM
Updated: Thursday, August 18th 2011, 4:27 PM
Kashif Pervaiz (l.) and his wife Nazish Noorani, 27, were shot in New Jersey while out walking.
Family Handout
Kashif Pervaiz (l.) and his wife Nazish Noorani, 27, were shot in New Jersey while out walking.
Mom gunned down walking with husband, son
The Brooklyn man who survived a New Jersey shooting that killed his wife may have been stepping out on his spouse, relatives revealed Thursday.
They are now openly questioning the account Kashif Pervaiz gave about how his wife, Nazish Noorani, was killed.
"I hope he's not involved," said Noorani's brother, Kaleem Noorani. "I hope he has nothing to do with this."
Relatives conceded there was trouble in the arranged marriage of Pervaiz and Noorani.
Asked about rumors of infidelity by Pervaiz, Noorani's big sister said, "I have plenty to say about that."
"But I want to let the investigation continue first," Lubna Choudhry said.
Authorities wouldn't discuss a possible motive.
Pervaiz, 26, who lived in Flatbush but also had an apartment in Boston, was shot four times in the attack Tuesday night and remains hospitalized. The couple's 3-year-old son, who was with his parents and in a stroller at the time of the shooting, wasn't hurt. He and Noorani have another son, who is 5.
The Morris County Prosecutor has released few details about the case beyond the fact that the attack in leafy Boonton, N.J., "appears to be target-specific."
Pervaiz told police they were out for a stroll Tuesday evening when three men approached them, opened fire, and then drove off.
"I didn't see anybody run off," said Choudhry, who lives two houses away from the crime scene. "I didn't see a car."
A neighbor of Pervaiz's in Boston told the Newark Star-Ledger he saw the husband with another woman a couple weeks ago.
"He was divorced, or getting divorced," Raul Santamaria told the newspaper.
Noorani's kin are now dubious about Pervaiz's claim that he was working towards a doctorate at Harvard University.
A spokesman for the Ivy League school said they have no record of anybody with that name enrolled in the doctoral program in architecture and engineering.
"If he comes up to me and tells me he goes to Harvard, I'll say that's good," Kaleem Noorani said. "I am not going to be going to Harvard and asking. It's weird, but sometimes people lie about things."
Pervaiz also told relatives he graduated with honors from Columbia University. But a school spokesman said Pervaiz was never enrolled there.
It yet another wrinkle to the evolving investigation, Pervaiz reported to Boston police that he'd been robbed three by three men on March 1. He said one of his attackers hit him in the head with a hammer, records show.
No arrest was made and Pervaiz was treated for a head injury at a local hospital.
Detectives were checking whether there was any connection to the fatal shooting of the 27-year-old Noorani.
Relatives said cops also questioned them about a Pervaiz pal who owns a tow truck company on E. 13th St. in Brooklyn and goes by the nickname "Nomi."
Initially, investigators suspected a hate crime because the family is Muslim and Noorani was wearing distinctive Pakistani clothing when they went for a walk after Iftar - the supper that breaks daily fasting during the season of Ramadan.
Noorani was born in Pakistan. He was born in Brooklyn. They were visiting family in Boonton when they were shot.
With Beverly Ford and Ben Chapman
csiemaszko@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/08/18/2011-08-18_man_who_survived_wifes_fatal_shooting_may_have_been_cheating_lying_about_his_pas.html#ixzz1VPnLOF3T
No comments:
Post a Comment