New York Local News

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ― A 34-year-old orthodontist was buried Monday as police investigated whether his shooting death at a Queens playground was related to the bitter custody battle he and his former wife had fought over their 5-year-old daughter.

The brazen attack occurred as Dr. Daniel Malakov arrived at the playground with the girl Sunday morning. As the child went to greet her mother, a gunman wearing a black leather jacket and a dark hat approached, shot three rounds into Malakov's chest, and fled.  Police recovered a bleach bottle covered with tape that they believe was used as a makeshift silencer.

The death shocked his close-knit community of Bukharan Jews from the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan.

"We lost a young, energetic, spiritual and promising member of the community," said Rabbi Itzhak Yehoshua, head of the Bukharian Rabbinical Council of America. "We will miss him for many years."

There were no arrests in Malakov's shooting at the Annadale Playground in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, where the orthodontist had gone to hand off his daughter, Michelle, to his former wife, Dr. Mazoltuv Borukhova, for visitation.

Malakov was taken to North Shore University Hospital nearby, where he was pronounced dead.

The daylight shooting occurred in a well-tended neighborhood that is home to immigrants from around the globe.

"Everyone is shocked at this horror," said Malakov's lawyer, Nathan Pinkhasov.

Pinkhasov said the orthodontist and Borukhova, a specialist in internal medicine who also goes by the name Marina Borukhova, had waged a fierce battle over custody of their daughter. Malakov had won custody of the girl just days ago.

"He had a special bond with the child," said Pinkhasov, speaking by telephone en route to his client's funeral. "He wanted to keep fighting for her."

Police questioned Borukhova at the 112th Precinct stationhouse Sunday night but did not charge her. Her attorneys did not immediately return calls seeking comment Monday.

A police official who spoke on condition of anonymity said only that investigators suspect the shooting may be linked to the custody dispute.

Malakov emigrated to the United States from Tashkent, one of tens of thousands of Bukharan Jews who arrived in the 1990s after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He studied at New York University and Columbia University.

"He was able to accomplish the American dream," said Yehoshua.

"There's a lot of grief in the community."

Bukharan Jews, also known as Bukharian or Bukhari Jews, are Jews from Central Asia who speak a dialect of Farsi. Their name comes from the Uzbek city of Bukhara, which once had a large Jewish community.

Yehoshua said there are about 70,000 Bukharan Jews in the United States -- 40,000 of them in Queens.

"All of us are relatives, second or third cousins," he said.

"It's like one big family."

In accordance with Jewish custom that dictates a funeral within 24 hours, services for Malakov were held Monday at Schwartz Brothers-Jeffer Memorial Chapels in Forest Hills.

But Yehoshua said that since Malakov was the victim of a crime, he advised the family to waive the traditional religious prohibition against performing an autopsy.

"This was my suggestion and I'm happy they followed it," he said.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)