The ambush-style killings may be connected by a “vehicle of interest.”
Four Muslim men have been murdered in Albuquerque recently — three within a fortnight. Police are warning mosque-goers to be cautious in the wake of the ambush-style killings, which may be connected by a “vehicle of interest” spotted in New Mexico’s biggest city. Here’s what we know.
Who are the victims?
According to the Albuquerque police, all four victims of the killings, which have taken place over the last nine months, were Muslim and of South Asian descent. Those men — Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, Aftab Hussein, 41, and Naeem Hussain, 25 — were all shot dead. The latest three killings all took place within two weeks, and have refocused police attention on the unsolved homicide of Mohammad Ahmadi in November last year.
“While we are still sifting through all the evidence to look for more connections, it is deeply troubling that these three men were Muslim and of similar descent,” deputy commander of Albuquerque Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division, Kyle Hartsock, said per CNN.
A suspect has been apprehended
After a weeks-long search, police say they have detained a “primary suspect” in the killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque. Muhammad Syed, 51, is believed to have targeted the men over an “interpersonal conflict.” He’s accused of the murders of Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, and suspected in killings of Naeem Hussain and Mohammad Ahmadi — though police are still investigating those homicides.
In a news release, the Albuquerque Police Department said the victims knew Syed “to some extent.” He was apprehended on August 8 after a tipster contacted authorities.
What else do we know about the killings?
The most recent killing of Naeem Hussain, who was shot just before midnight on Friday in the neighborhood around Truman Street and Grand Avenue, appeared very similar to the previous three killings. Ahmadi, Hussain, and Hussein were all “ambushed with no warning, fired on and killed,” according to Hartsock.
Naeem Hussain attended a funeral for the last two victims on the day he was killed. Having migrated to America from Pakistan in 2016, he’d begun a trucking business earlier this year, and per CNN, was described as a “kind, generous and hardworking person.”
As of August 8, the police were reportedly looking for a “vehicle of interest” that they believe may be connected. The car is a “dark silver sedan-style Volkswagen Jetta or Passat with tinted windows.”
A community living in fear
The murders have understandably rattled the Islamic community nationwide, even prompting the use of armed guards outside the Islamic Center of New Mexico. According to the New York Times, Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain, who lives just a few blocks from the site where his younger brother Muhammad Afzaal Hussain was killed, is afraid to even step outside. “My kids won’t let me go outside of my apartment,” he said, adding that he can’t even water his plants.
“Now, I look outside the window and think, ‘Oh, this is the place where my brother was killed. Should we move?’” he told the Times.
The Albuquerque Police, the F.B.I. and the State Police have all appealed to the public for information to help find the shooter or shooters, but some members of the Islamic Center of New Mexico — the mosque all four victims attended — are still choosing to leave the area. Some are traveling out of state to be with other members of their family, and one man apparently said he may never come back, for fear of becoming “bait.”
