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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Remember the killing of Muslims in Albuquerque that the media dropped when it turned out the shooter was Muslim

2024-03-19

[KRQE] Verdict reached in first trial for man accused of killing 3 Muslim men in Albuquerque

A jury on Monday found Muhammad Syed

…more fully Muhammad Atif Syed, immigrant from Afghanistan. He was originally said to have killed them because he was angry his daughter married a Shiite. His son, Shaheen Syed A.K.A. Maiwand, who had a habit of beating up his sister, had drivers licenses from Florida and Albuquerque, though he never lived at the Florida address, used a fake address to buy guns, and is thought to have worked with his father in hunting down targets…

guilty of first-degree murder for the July 26, 2022, killing of Aftab Hussein, a 41-year-old Pakistani immigrant in Albuquerque.

Police said Hussein was shot on Rhode Island Street near Copper. Jury deliberation started on Monday morning around 9:00am. It took them only two hours to reach their verdict.

Both the defense and the prosecution rested their cases on Friday after four days of testimony and 20 witnesses. Syed did not testify during the trial. Syed is now a convicted murderer, but the prosecution says his motive is still unknown.

“There’s only minimal conjecture on possible motive. As best we can tell, the motive in this may truly be a random serial killer type of mentality that we will never understand,” says David Waymire, prosecuting attorney.

“Certainly we felt relief, I think that the relief that we feel is certain upon us but as well as the community. We’re just proud of the verdict, proud of the work the jury did in deliberations,” says Jordan Machin, prosecuting attorney.

The prosecution team says they believe the cell phone records putting Syed in the area of the shooting, the gun linked to him, and the note Syed wrote in his Notes app saying he would ‘test’ his AK-47 minutes before the murder all helped make the case.

Syed’s defense team expressed disappointment with the verdict: “We respect the jury system. This is the best system in the world. Obviously we’re disappointed but the jury made their decision, they made a unanimous decision regarding our clients guilt and we have to respect that,” says Thomas Clark, defense attorney for Syed.

“Well certainly we respect their decision but we are understandably disappointed on behalf of our client,” says Megan Mitsunaga, defense attorney for Syed.

Syed still faces two other murder trials for two separate killings that took place in 2022. The next trial that’s expected to take place is for 27-year-old Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, a UNM alumni and Espanola city planner who was shot and killed while walking near his house at night near Cornell and Coal Avenue.

His brother, Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain, has been following this case and also spoke out Monday: “At least it give us a little bit of relief at least, that person who has potential of killing innocent lives, he is behind the bar and no other brother, no other son, will become victim of that hate-monger.”

The third trial is expected to be for 25-year-old Naeem Hussain. Police said Hussain was shot to death while sitting in his car in the parking lot of Lutheran Family Services on Truman off San Mateo, just north of Central Avenue.

No word yet on when the next trial will be scheduled. At sentencing, Syed faces life behind bars without parole for this first degree murder charge. His defense team says they plan to appeal the charge to the state supreme court, but plan to do so after the third murder trial has concluded.

Posted by:Procopius2k

#3 Deputy District Attorney David Waymire said ... "As best we can tell, this could be a case of a serial killer where there's a motive known only to them and not something that we can really understand."

Sunni vs Shia?

Posted by: SteveS 2024-03-19 23:12

#2 The BBC has a photo of the miscreant here.

Posted by: trailing wife 2024-03-19 22:28

#1 "Remember the killing of Muslim... turned out the shooter was Muslim."

Usually is. Is the take away that they annoy each other more than they annoy the rest of us? Or does G-d will it. Ha!

Posted by: mossomo 2024-03-19 12:32

00:00