Muslims, Christians fight at funeral

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Muslims and Christians fought at the Jersey City, N.J., funeral of Egyptian family members killed after one of them made an anti-Islamic statement.

Hossam Armanious, 37, his wife, Amal Garas, and their two daughters were found stabbed to death early Friday in their home, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

Each victim was bound, gagged and stabbed in the neck, and investigators focused on anti-Islamic remarks Armanious made in a popular religious chat room after allegedly being threatened online for expressing his Christian beliefs.

Police removed one mourner Monday who began yelling abusively at a sheik attending the service at St. George & St. Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church. Other mourners carried anti-Islamic signs, despite the family's pleas that they not.

Later Muslims and Christians fought outside the church.

A reward of $100,000 was being offered by Coptic leaders for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the family's killer or killers.

A relative of the victims had helped prosecutors in their case against Lynne Stewart, the lawyer charged with passing messages to followers of her client, convicted terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman.