Among the close-knit Muslim community of Yonkers, Mr. Rajpoot was not known to be devout, according to Shabbir Gul, a community activist who also belongs to the Andalusia mosque; for years, he recalled, he saw him only infrequently at Friday prayers, dressed in jeans and with a clean-shaven face. But about two years ago, Mr. Rajpoot grew a beard and began showing up more regularly, sometimes in traditional Pakistani dress.
“Nobody knows what happened, how come this guy suddenly did this,” Mr. Gul said. “Islam says that kids have freedom,” he added. “They can go pray, they can play, they can have their own life.”
After the killing, Mr. Rajpoot had planned to flee back to the United States, according to Captain Muhsin. Instead, he and Mr. Tayyab are still in jail in Quetta. From their interrogations, the police were led to a motorcycle they say was the getaway vehicle and a pistol registered in Mr. Tayyab’s name at his home; the police now say it is the murder weapon.
Back in Yonkers, the eighth graders at School 16 are planning a memorial for Hira. In the spring, they will plant a tree in her honor, the principal said, and the students are putting together a collage of snapshots of her. She had made so many friends in just a few months that it seems like almost everyone has a photo of Hira on their phone.
“She is being the glue right now that is keeping our school community together,” Dr. Vasquez said.
The day she found out her friend had been killed, Layla Blanca could not go into the school where they had met, had giggled, had gossiped. She spent the day unable to get up from her bed, looking through old messages from Hira. The last one came in on Jan. 26 at 5:10 a.m., Yonkers time — 3:10 in the afternoon in Pakistan. In it, Zayn Malik is onstage at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. He pulls a microphone close and sings in Urdu, “I love you.”
Saadullah Akthar contributed reporting from Quetta, Pakistan.