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A 51-year-old man identified as Muhammad Syed has been arrested for the murder of two Muslim men in New Mexico on Monday, August 15, 2022.
Despite Syed refusing to accept he committed the crime, Albuquerque police have charged him with two counts of murder. Authorities further stated that it was very likely that Syed was connected to the killings.
Syed was apprehended in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, where police arrived with a search warrant for his Albuquerque home. He was seen leaving in a gray Volkswagen Jetta, but was stopped by authorities over 100 miles away. The Albuquerque Police Department released body camera video of the arrest, which shows Syed resisting arrest.
Addressing a press conference, Albuquerque Police Department Deputy Police Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock said the motive for the killings remains unknown. Officials further stated that there's evidence to prove that Muhammad Syed "knew the victims to some extent and that an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings."
Muhammad Syed has had run-ins with law before the murder incident
Although Syed has been placed under arrest, the motive for the murder is still not known, said APD's Hartsock. He said:
"We do have some information about those events taking place, but we're not really clear if that was the actual motive, or if it was part of a motive, or if there's just a bigger picture that we're missing."
Muhammad Syed is suspected of murdering Muhammed Afzaal Hussain, 27, and Aftab Hussein, 41, both of whom were Muslim and from Pakistan. While Hussain was found dead on August 1, Hussein was murdered on July 27.
Other victims include Naeem Hussain from Pakistan, who was killed on August 5 and Mohammad Ahmadi from Afghanistan, who was killed in November. All of the men were Muslim. Detectives are working on potential charges for these two killings as well.
Syed admitted in a criminal complaint to having "known Naeem Hussain since 2016 and recognised Aftab Hussain from parties in the community."
As per APD, Muhammad Syed has had a few run-ins with the law before as well. Some even date back to 2017. These allegations include domestic violence, battery, assault, battery domestic violence, aggravated assault, food stamp fraud and shoplifting. However, Syed did not face jail time for any of these crimes.
Another charge of child abuse was filed in 2019, but police did not provide much information about the incident.
An immigrant from Afghan who arrived in Albuquerque, six years ago
Muhammad Syed and his family arrived in Albuquerque six years ago. Syed's family then became a part of the city's Afghan refugee community. According to reports, the family spoke Pashto and belonged to Afghanistan's Sunni Muslim community.
Mazin Kadhim, the case manager who provided refugee services to Syed and his family, called the equation between him and Syed "tumultuous." Before his arrest, Muhammad Syed stated that he was a member of the Special Forces in Afghanistan and had faced the Taliban.
