Phila. mourners remember slain shopkeeper

Nearly 1,000 mourners gathered yesterday as a beige pine coffin was pulled from a silver hearse and laid on a brass carriage in the middle of a normally busy West Philadelphia street.

The coffin bore the body of Fakhur Uddin, 20, a baby-faced shopkeeper killed Wednesday in East Germantown's business district. He was swaddled in white sheets on the unit block of South 43d Street, which had been blocked off by police, with a mosque on one side of the street and a former seminary on the other side.

Today, Uddin's body, which bore bruises from apparent blows, was scheduled to be flown back to his native Bangladesh, according to his father, Syed S. Alam.

"I just want them to find who killed him," Alam said as a stream of mourners passed by his son's coffin. He attempted to say more but was overcome with emotion.

It was in his shop, Rahman Body Oils Beads & Variety, on Germantown Avenue near Chelten Avenue, that his son was bound, gagged and shot in the head. Police said less than $25 was taken. They have no suspects.

During the ceremony, Alauddin Patwary, 42, a councilman from western Pennsylvania, announced over a megaphone that close to $10,000 had been raised for a reward. The Liberation Fellowship Community Development Corp. also offered a $1,000 reward.

Some in attendance said the killing was a wake-up call and a turning point for the Muslim community in Philadelphia.

Imam Jamil Abdullah said during the ceremony that a meeting would be held Tuesday night at Masjid Muhammad at 414 E. Penn St. to discuss what could be done about the killing and other problems in the neighborhood where the slaying occurred.

Kazi M. Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Community of Pennsylvania, said meetings had been held with Mayor Nutter.

Schools friends who said they played cricket with Uddin rallied around his best friend, Abu Hassan, 19, whom they supported in his grief.

"I'll do anything to find his killers. He meant a lot to me," said Roman Islam, 16.

Another friend, Shamsuz Zaman, 17, said of Uddin: "He was polite and strong and athletic . . . always smiling."

Some of the youths said conditions were worse in this country than in Bangladesh. But Patwary said he would have none of such bitter talk.

"Our community was a little discouraged," he said of the killing, "but we are united. Anybody who is hurting, we will help."