Wife, community leaders plead for clues in doctor's shooting near SW Houston mosque
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The family of a doctor who was shot outside a southwest Houston mosque is pushing for help to find his attacker. The Islamic community is working with other religious groups to take a stand against the violence.
His family says a man robbed Dr. Arslan Tajammul and shot him while he was walking to a mosque to pray Sunday morning.
"The past day has been the scariest day of my life. I went from having a normal day to feeling like I lost almost everything," said Syeda, the wife of Dr. Arslan Tajammul.
Dr. Arslan was rushed to the hospital after the shooting. He went into surgery. After he woke up, he told family members what happened. We talked exclusively with his brother-in-law.
"One man rolled up and asked for his wallet and at that point my brother-in-law gave him the wallet and as the man was going back to his van, he turned around and shot him and they ran away," said Arslan's brother-in-law.
We do not have much of a suspect description at this time.
The news of the shooting is especially disheartening for Muslims.
While HPD has said they don't believe it's a hate crime at this point, Muslims feel targeted. In fact, in a news conference Monday afternoon, Muslims, Christians and communities came together to speak out on the need to unify and fight any hatred toward any religion.
The Council of American Islamic Relations said last year there were a record number of incidents and or attacks at mosques in the United States. Almost half of those occurred in Texas.
A local Muslim doctor who spoke at the news conference said it's becoming so bad that he doesn't know how to tell his children.
"I have four children and I'm concerned how am I going to raise them in this environment of discriminations, harassment and intimidation. I'm using these three words because I cannot find any replacement words. I have to be very frank, very honest. There's nothing to hide. The one question I have for myself, what have I done wrong?" said Doctor Shahid Hasnain.
Dr. Tajammul's wife delivered a simple message to the public.
"The reason I came out to talk to you today is to let you know Arslan is not a number. He has been a kind and loving husband for five years. He's a doctor who loves is jobs and he loves how they allow him to take care of other people," his wife Syeda said.
