Man charged in killings of 2 Muslim men in Albuquerque

(Image credit: Albuquerque Police Department via AP)

published 10 August 2022

Police in Albuquerque announced on Tuesday that a 51-year-old man named Muhammad Syed has been charged in the recent killings of two Muslim men.

Authorities said Syed, who came to the U.S. from Afghanistan five years ago, is also suspected in two additional slayings of Muslim men. The four victims all attended the same mosque, the Islamic Center of New Mexico, and their deaths rattled Albuquerque's Muslim community. Three of the killings happened within the last two weeks.

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Syed has been charged in the killings of Aftab Hussein, 41, and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, with police saying they found bullet casings at the crime scenes connected to a gun discovered at Syed's home. Authorities said Syed is also the prime suspect in the killings of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, and Naeem Hussain, 25. Syed is Muslim, and The Associated Press reports that "police are investigating whether Sunni-Shiite tensions fueled Syed's violence or if he was motivated by other ideas."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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