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‘Primary Suspect' Arrested in Murders of Four Muslim Men in New Mexico is Sunni Muslim Angry Over His Daughter Marrying a Shiite Muslim: Report
According to New York Time reporter Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, the suspect in the killings of the four Muslim men is Sunni Muslim and targeted the victims because he was angry over his daughter marrying a Shiite Muslim. Police arrested Muhammad Syed, 51, and charged him with two of the killings, the New York Times reported.
According to APD, Syed is currently being charged two of the four homicides under investigation. Those include the July 26 shooting of Aftab Hussein and the August 1 shooting of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain. APD says detectives connected Syed to those two cases through bullet casings recovered at the respective crime scenes and several guns recovered in the case. APD searched Syed’s home near Gibson and Carlisle Monday night at roughly the same time Syed was stopped off of an I-40 exit in Santa Rosa. Multiple guns were found inside Syed’s home, while another gun was found in Syed’s car, according to APD. “A tip from the community is what helped lead us to this subject, and what helped us eventually find the car that we put out just two days ago to the public,” APD Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock said. “Hundreds of tips have come in that have been thoroughly reviewed, dozens of interviews took place.” As police went to serve the search warrant on Syed’s home Monday night, APD says officers observed Syed load items into the grey sedan police were seeking, then leave his home. Police then followed Syed out to Santa Rosa where he was later arrested. During the news conference, said detectives are still investigating Syed’s possible involvement in two other shooting deaths, including the November killing of Mohammad Zahir Ahmadi and the August 5 murder of Naeem Hussain. Hartsock said, “We think there might be involvement in two other homicide cases, those are still considered open and active, but we’re working on more evidence testing and more interviews to continue to build that case with the prosecutor’s office.” In all, APD says four Muslim men have been killed in four different shootings since November 2021. They include Mohammad Zahir Ahmadi, 62; Aftab Hussein, 41; Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27; and Naeem Hussain, 25. APD remains reserved about a possible motive in the killings. In a news release, APD said “detectives discovered evidence that shows the offender knew the victims to some extent and an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shooting.” In a news release from the Council on American–Islamic Relations, National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said the group “strongly condemned the anti-Shia hatred that may have motivated the killings.” “The motives are still being explored, fully, to understand what they are,” Hartsock. “We do have some information about [Shiite/Sunni] events taking place, but we’re not really clear if that was the actual motive or it was part of the motive, or if there’s just a bigger picture that we’re missing, so what’s really important is we’re still investigating it even though he is arrested today, we’re going to continue to investigative and work with our prosecutors to understand what the motives were.” According to reporting from the New York Times, authorities are exploring possible Sunni/Shiite beliefs among Syed, his family members and the victims. APD acknowledged it has “heard those things,” responding to a question from a reporter about the motive Tuesday. Hartsock could not confirm if Syed was a Sunni Muslim when asked Tuesday. It’s unclear if anyone else will be charged in the case. APS confirmed Tuesday that Syed’s son were questioned, then released amid the investigation Monday night. “We’re going to follow the evidence,” Hartsock said. “If the evidence leads us to someone else that needs charges, we’ll be happy to file them with the [district attorney’s] office.” APD says it believes Syed is from Afghanistan. The department believes he came to the U.S. “in the last several years.” APD says its officers have contacted Syed in the past for “a few minor misdemeanor arrests” including a domestic violence incident in the past four years.
 ... which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... that authorities informed him the shooter is a Sunni Moslem who may have targeted the victims because he was angry over his daughter marrying a Shiite Moslem. A gun traced back to two of the homicide scenes was found during a search of Syed’s home, authorities said. Syed is a native of Afghanistan who has lived in New Mexico the "last several years," Hartsock said. He’s been arrested on domestic violence charges three times in recent years, but all the charges were eventually dropped. The first of the four homicides occurred in November, authorities said, when Ahmadi was shot full of holes outside a market and cafe he operated with his brother. A second killing came on July 26, when Aftab Hussein was shot full of holes outside of his apartment. Days later, Afzaal was also rubbed out outside of his apartment just blocks from the University of New Mexico, where he attended graduate school. His older brother, Imtiaz, said he’d stepped outside to make a phone call before he was ambushed on Aug. 1. The final of the four victims, Naeem Hussain, was killed on Aug. 5 just hours after he attended a funeral service for Afzaal Hussain and Aftab Hussein. Hartsock said Albuquerque police are working "across oceans" to gather information about Syed and to coordinate the transfer of victims’ bodies.
Yet Imtiaz Hussain, the brother of Afzaal Hussain, told DailyMail.com that he did not support the theory. 'My brother is a Sunni Muslim. Not a Shite Muslim,' said Imtiaz, who was a prosecutor in Pakistan before moving to Albuquerque. 'So I reject the theory that has been widely published that Muhammad Syed killed my brother and others because his daughter married a Shiite Muslim. 'My brother was a Muslim. He never carried any ID that said he was a Sunni or Shiite.' Imtiaz Hussain also said he did not believe his brother knew Syed. 'He only went to the Islamic Center every three to four months,' he continued. 'I've never meet this person who murdered my brother nor do I think my brother knew him. 'He's 51 years old, my brother is 30 years younger, they wouldn't have a lot in common with that age gap.' Related: Albuquerque: 2022-08-07 Good Morning Albuquerque: 2022-08-07 Fears serial killer targeting Muslims has struck AGAIN: Fourth Muslim man is gunned down in Albuquerque as community leaders say 'we fear for the safety of our children and our families' Albuquerque: 2022-04-27 Terrifying moment street racer, 49, slams his Mustang into school bus at 110mph in New Mexico and sends children FLYING Posted by: Frank G 2022-08-10 |
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