Police in the US state of New Mexico have arrested a man suspected of being involved in a series of murders of Muslims in the city of Albuquerque. The first took place in November last year, when a 62-year-old man was shot dead.
The Albuquerque police chief said the suspect’s car, 51-year-old Muhammad Syed, was located and the driver was arrested. “He is our prime suspect in the murders,” said Harold Medina. It’s been established Syed knew all the victims. It is suspected that an ‘interpersonal conflict’ led to the deadly shootings.
The first in the series of murders took place in November. Another three men were killed in the past two weeks. The victims were all shot more or less out of nowhere and were of Pakistani or Afghan descent.
The latest murder was Friday night when 25-year-old Naeem Hussain was shot dead. That was hours after he attended the funeral of two other victims: Afzaal Hussain, 27, and Aftab Hussein, 41. They were shot on August 1 and July 26, respectively. Mohammad Ahmadi was assassinated on November 7.
The killings sparked unrest among the small Muslim community in Albuquerque, which is home to some 565,000 people. President Joe Biden also expressed his outrage over the killings this weekend. A brother of one of the victims says the arrest has brought relief to the community.
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