Authorities investigating 4 killings that terrorized the Islamic group in New Mexico’s largest metropolis have charged their prime suspect with three of the murders.
An Albuquerque grand jury on Monday indicted Afghan refugee Muhammad Syed, 51, on three fees of first-degree homicide within the capturing deaths of cafe worker Aftab Hussein, city planning director Muhammad Hussain, and truck enterprise proprietor Naeem Hussain, over a 10-day stretch starting in late July.
Syed would face life imprisonment if convicted of any a kind of fees.
Grand jurors’ indictment additionally accused Syed of 4 counts of tampering with proof earlier than police arrested him on 9 August, although the doc didn’t instantly elaborate on these fees.
Officers, shortly after arresting him, had booked Syed with the slayings of Aftab Hussein, 41, on 26 July and of Muhammad Hussain, 27, on 1 August. Monday’s indictment added the 5 August capturing loss of life of Naeem Hussain, 25, to the record of fees confronting Syed.
An announcement from the Albuquerque district legal professional’s workplace stated cellphone proof allowed its prosecutors to hyperlink Syed to Naeem Hussain’s killing.
Investigators have additionally beforehand stated that they suspected Syed could have carried out a fourth killing relationship again to final yr: that of grocery retailer proprietor Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, on 7 November. However grand jurors on Monday stopped in need of charging Syed with that homicide.
Syed’s legal professional couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
As a result of Aftab Hussein, Muhammad Hussain, Naeem Hussain and Mohammad Ahmadi are all Muslim in addition to Pakistani and Afghan immigrants, their killings fueled rampant hypothesis that they could have been the targets of a racist killer, even prompting the Joe Biden White Home to sentence “hateful assaults”.
Members of Albuquerque’s Muslim group locked themselves of their houses and contemplated fleeing the town, with the ambiance of worry reaching a fever pitch when Naeem Hussain was shot useless hours after attending a funeral service for Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Hussain.
However, after police revealed an outline and surveillance footage of a silver, four-door Volkswagen that gave the impression to be concerned in a minimum of among the murders, officers noticed Syed driving that car.
Police stopped Syed about 100 miles from New Mexico’s border with Texas on 9 August, discovered him with a gun and bullet casings matching these recovered on the scenes the place Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Hussain have been killed, and jailed him.
He has been detained with out bond since and insisted he was not responsible in preliminary courtroom hearings.
Police haven’t stated what could have motivated Syed to apparently go on a killing spree. However these acquainted with him have publicly famous that Syed, a Sunni Muslim, was drastically displeased along with his daughter for marrying somebody from the Shia department of Islam.
Hussein and Hussain will be Shia surnames, and Ahmadi will be one, too, main some Muslims in Albuquerque to fret that the sufferer’s final names probably factored into their being focused. Nonetheless, authorities haven’t confirmed whether or not that was related to Syed’s motive.
Syed’s current arrest wasn’t his first brush with legislation enforcement. Courtroom information present he had beforehand been charged with bodily abusing his spouse, his son and a person allegedly relationship his daughter, although prosecutors finally dropped this instances and his household has stood by him since he emerged as a homicide suspect.
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