The Survivor In Shooting That Killed A Young Mom Claimed It Was A Hate Crime — But Was It?

In August 2011, Nazish Noorani and her husband, Kashif Parvaiz, had ended their Ramadan fast with Noorani’s family and were walking home when gunfire rang through the summer night.

Noorani was gravely injured, but Parvaiz was able to call 911 for help. At the scene, paramedics tried to revive Noorani for almost half an hour, but she succumbed to her injuries. Parvais was wounded — but alive — and was rushed to a nearby hospital.

Back down the street, Noorani’s sister, Lubna, answered the door to a neighbor telling her that something had happened to her youngest sibling.

In an interview at the scene, Parvaiz told police that he and his wife were walking to his in-laws’ home when several masked gunmen jumped out at them, called the Pakistani immigrants “terrorists,” and then began firing at them.

Police wondered if they could be dealing with a hate crime as the incident happened on the first night of Ramadan. Boonton’s Muslim community was shaken as they considered the possibility that they were being targeted and more violence could come, especially since police didn’t find any suspects as they canvassed the area in the hours immediately after the shooting.

Broken Dreams

Noorani immigrated to America from Pakistan when she was 19, according to her sister. She loved shopping, and she was full of life. She met Parvaiz, who was studying to be an architect, in 2005 and the pair married.

Their family quickly grew to include two sons, and the couple made the difficult choice for Parvaiz to move to Massachusetts when he was accepted into Harvard University’s architecture program. Noorani’s family helped with the children while Parvaiz was away.

A Stunning Motive

Homicide investigators quickly ruled out robbery as a motive for murder, and they struggled to find any evidence that the incident was a hate crime.

Noorani’s sister said there had never been any animosity towards the Muslim community in Boonton, and investigators who spoke to leaders at the mosque found no evidence that there’d been any threats or hints of violence aimed towards the congregants.

Additionally, nobody in the neighborhood reported seeing any cars speeding away from the scene or anybody running on foot.

Investigators spoke with Parvaiz again, hoping that having him retell his story might drop some clues about what had gone so wrong.

Instead, he told police that he never should have gotten married.

Learn the tragic truth behind what happened to Noorani on the newest episode of True Conviction airing on ID May 3 at 10/9c. Other episodes are available now on discovery+.