by Hassina Leelarathna
(March 27, Los Angeles, Sri Lanka Guardian) Was a Sri Lankan gunned down in broad daylight by the same man who allegedly shot to death a Pakistani just days earlier the victim of a hate crime?
Police have no clear motive for the shooting deaths of the two men of South Asian descent who lived less than three miles from each other in Olney, Maryland.
Nazir Ahmed (81) was found shot to death in his home on Olney Mill Road on March 18 while
41-year-old Punyasara Wickremanayake Palkumbure Gedara was gunned down as he was returning home from work around 5:00 pm on North High Street three days later - a mile and a half from the first murder.
“Montgomery County takes hate crimes seriously. Investigators are developing evidence and have not ruled out any possibilities,” County Police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said in a telephone interview.
She said police are charging Rohan Jerome Goodlett (35), who lived on the same block as Ahmed, with two counts of first degree murder. According to a press release, Montgomery County Police Major Crimes Division detectives have completed an analysis of the ballistic evidence recovered from both homicides and confirmed that the same type of ammunition and the same gun were used in both murders.
Goodlett is currently at a correctional facility in Clarksburg. He was arrested March 21 by police who noticed that the older-model beige Toyota Camry he was driving matched the lookout description issued for the vehicle witnessed at the scene of Mr. Wickremanayake’s murder. Goodlett was being held on two counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance (CDS) (marijuana) and two counts of possession of CDS paraphernalia while police conducted ballistics tests on the ammunition found at his home.
“The motive for these homicides remains under investigation, and there has not yet been a link developed between the victims. Detectives will continue their investigation to try to determine the motive for these murders, and whether the victims were specifically targeted or randomly shot,” the press release said.
However, Olney residents are asking if the two men were targeted because of their ethnicity.
"Both men are foreign gentlemen, so I think it could be a possibility," Matt Zaborsky, President of the Greater Olney Civic Association.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a powerful civil rights advocacy group, said it became interested in the case following representations by the local Muslim community about a possible religious or race-based motive for the slayings. CAIR spokesperson Ibrahim Hooper said his organization is in touch with Muslim community leaders and law enforcement authorities and that they are monitoring the progress of police investigations. He said if hate was the motive, it was possible that Wickremanayake was targeted in the belief that he too was a Muslim immigrant. “We are encouraged that investigators are looking at all angles at this stage,” he said.
According to the FBI, in 2009, the latest year for which statistics are available, law enforcement nationwide reported 1,050 offenses targeting victims based on ethnicity or national origin.
Assistant State's Attorney Peter A. Feeney, one of the prosecutors in the case, said Ahmed had been shot at close range, execution style, and that a possible motive in his case might be robbery. The elderly gentleman who lived by himself had withdrawn $40 from an ATM the previous day but the money was not found by crime scene investigators. Ahmed’s body was discovered by a member of the Muslim Community Center who went to check on him after he failed to attend Friday prayer services.
However, police have so far not been able to offer any motive in the murder of Wickremanayake who had started work at a nearby Subway (Sandwiches) outlet just a week before the shooting. Police said they responded to calls from neighbors who reported hearing several shots and found the Sri Lankan immigrant on the ground suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Wickremanayake and wife Nayana immigrated to the US six months ago after being selected on the annual US ‘greencard lottery’ and were living with a relative, Cyril Rajapakse, in the small Maryland city of Olney while looking for employment.
Wickremenayake is the second Sri Lankan murdered in the past three months. College student Sujendra Amarasingham was killed in Kansas City, Missouri while working at a gas station. Robbery was the motive in that case.
The Washington Buddhist Vihara is coordinating efforts to raise funds for Mr. Wickremanayake’s funeral which will be held at the Hines Rinaldi Funeral Home in Silver Springs, Maryland, on Sunday March 27 at 4:00 pm.
Hassina Leelarathna is a freelance writer living in California. She may be contacted by email: hassinaleelarathna@gmail.com
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