A Newark, N.J., imam who was shot outside a mosque early Wednesday morning, has died, officials confirmed at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

The imam, identified as Hassan Sharif by authorities, was shot "more than once" in his car outside Masjid Muhammad-Newark on South Orange Avenue and Camden Street around 6 a.m., according to acting Essex County prosecutor Theodore Stevens II. He was then taken to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his wounds around 2 p.m., Stevens said.

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said the evidence collected by investigators so far "does not indicate" the killing was motivated by bias or was an act of domestic terrorism, though he and other officials -- including New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy -- swore to protect the state's Muslim community and pledged law enforcement resources to that end.

"I want every resident of our state to know that we are bringing all of our resources to bear to keep our Muslim friends and neighbors safe, as well as safe, all New Jersey and safe just as we're going to continue to work around the clock to identify and bring to justice anyone involved in the killing of Imam Sharif," Platkin said. "Regardless of the motivation, we also know that Imam Sharif is just the latest casualty in the senseless gun violence epidemic that plagues our state and our country."

Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Fragé said that Sharif was the imam of the mosque for around five years and was invoilved Newark's interfaith community. He also assisted police by using his mosque as a safe location for fugitives to surrender to authorities.

"He was a committed advocate who protested against gun violence continuously. He supported the city in all of his efforts in helping to keep our city safe," Fragé said. "It is with deep loss that the city will mourn his abcense."

Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura said the county is offering a $25,000 reward to anyone with information connected to the killing. He, Platkin and other officials cited the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas as a contributing factor to threats and violence targeting religious institutions, as hate crimes against Muslims and Jews have risen nationally.

"With ongoing events throughout the world, all of our religious institutions have been on edge for quite some time. We along with our partners have been aggressively patrolling the area... Our bomb squad has been very, very busy of late and will continue to make sure that we provide safety for all of our religious institutions."

Officials did not say if they have any

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights group in the U.S., has reported a massive spike in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate crimes since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. 

"None of us has to know the details about this shooting to condemn it. Any act of violence, any killing or harming of any person, is never okay - no matter what precipitates or motivates such a depraved act," Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka said. "Today we mourn a fellow Newarker and a member of our city's multi-faith clergy community. I am disgusted that a gun has made its way through our community to kill one of us."

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who was elsewhere in Newark on Wednesday morning, swore to protect New Jersey's Muslim population.

"At this point, we do not have any information about the perpetrators or motivations behind this incident, but I know law enforcement will provide updates as appropriate," Murphy said in a statement. "At a time when the Muslim community is concerned by an increase of bias incidents and crimes, I want to assure the Muslim community and people of all faiths that we will do everything in our power to keep all residents safe, especially in or near our houses of worship."

The New Jersey chapter of the CAIR said they had no "information on the perpatrator's motive," but warned Muslims to remain vigilant.

"Imam Hassan Sharif is a beacon of leadership in his community and we are praying for his full and speedy recovery. We ask others to do the same," a CAIR-NJ spokesperson said in a statement. "As always, and irrespective of this specific incident, we advise all mosques to keep their doors open but remain cautious especially given the recent spike in anti-Muslim bigotry."

Wednesday was not the first time the Newark mosque, founded in 1957, saw one of its leaders targeted by violence. In 1973, when it was known as Temple #25, its leader James Shabazz -- a major figure in the Nation of Islam -- was shot and killed in his driveway, according to a New York Times report at the time.