Perilous
Times
Wife killed, husband wounded by gunshots while walking with
3-year-old son in New Jersey
By Dave Porter, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press
BOONTON, N.J. - A young couple of Pakistani descent, walking their
son in a stroller, was struck by gunfire on a New Jersey street.
The woman was killed and her husband, a Harvard Ph.D. student, was
wounded in the burst of violence, which authorities said Wednesday
was not random. The 3-year-old child was not injured.
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 this small suburban town when
gunfire erupted on a 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 alert and talking when he was taken to the hospital,
family members said. The couple's other child was at home at the
time of the shooting.
Pervaiz graduated with honours from Columbia University and is
studying for his doctoral degree in architecture and engineering
at Harvard, family members said.
Noorani was a native of Karachi, Pakistan, while Pervaiz was
originally from Brooklyn, the family said. The couple married six
years ago in Boonton, a suburb about 30 miles (48 kilometres) from
New York City that has a large Pakistani-American population.
Noorani was wearing traditional Pakistani clothing at the time of
the shooting, but family members and police said they did not
believe it was a bias act.
Waj Khan, a first cousin of Noorani, said in the 15 years he's
lived in Boonton, he has never experienced any ethnic bias.
The husband's brother, Mansoor Hassan of Brooklyn, told The
Associated Press 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.
Hassan said the couple's children are with their grandparents and
other family members.
___
Associated Press writer Josh Lederman in Trenton, New Jersey,
contributed to this report.