Hundreds of people gathered at a mosque in Sunset Park on Monday to say their goodbyes to Hamoud Saeidi, an 86-year-old man who was fatally shot Saturday morning in a string of seemingly random attacks in Brooklyn and Queens.
Saeidi’s sons say that he was a pillar of the Yemeni community in both Brooklyn and Queens.
“He told me ‘I just finished praying,’ I told him happy Friday, and he told me ‘God bless your son’,” said Main Saeidi, son of Hamoud. “I have a 6-year-old son… he would always say that to me.”
Hamoud Saeidi was on his way to the mosque Saturday morning when he was fatally shot in the back by a man with a 9 mm handgun. Authorities say that man was driving around parts of Brooklyn and Queens on an illegal moped, firing his gun at seemingly random people.
Thomas Abreu was arraigned in Queens today in the shooting death of Hamoud Saeidi and a string of attacks. He faces charges including murder, attempted murder, first-degree assault and gun possession.
Mayor Eric Adams attended the funeral to pay his respects. He condemned the attacks and said his administration will continue to do what they can to get illegal guns and illegal mopeds off the streets.