New Mexico Muslim killings

Last updated

New Mexico Muslim killings
DateNovember 7, 2021 – August 5, 2022 (2021-11-07 – 2022-08-05)
Location Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
Type Ambush shooting
PerpetratorMuhammad Atif Syed
Deaths4
Verdict
  • Guilty of first-degree murder charge
  • Pleaded not contest to second-degree murder charges
Convictions
  • First-degree murder
  • Second-degree murder (2 counts)

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, four Muslim men were killed between November 2021 and August 2022 [1] [2] in a series of ambush shootings. [3] Albuquerque police initially investigated the killings as a possible hate crime. [4] 51-year-old Muhammad Atif Syed, [5] an Afghan American, was arrested as the suspect on August 9, 2022. [6] [7] Authorities were also seeking to detain his son on August 14, 2022. [8] Syed has been convicted in one of the murders in March 2024, and pled no contest in other two in September 2024. His son has not been charged in any murder.

Contents

Killings

The first victim, Mohammad Ahmadi, an Afghan American, was killed on November 7, 2021, outside of a business he ran with his brother. On July 26, 2022, Aftab Hussein, a Pakistani American of the Hazara ethnicity, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds next to his car after an assailant shot him through a bush. On August 1, police responded to a drive-by shooting which killed Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, a Pakistani American who among other jobs "also worked on the campaign team for US Representative Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico." [9] The last victim, Naeem Hussain, who was also Pakistani American, was found dead on August 5 by Albuquerque police officers responding to reports of a shooting. This led the police to connect the three previous killings. [10]

Perpetrator

On August 9, 2022, the Albuquerque Police Department announced that a "primary suspect" had been detained, later that day announcing the arrest of a 51-year-old Afghan American named Muhammad Atif Syed, [5] a well-known member of the local Muslim community. [6] [11] He was formally charged with the killings of Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Afzaal Hussian on August 10, and was charged with the killing of Naeem Hussain on August 19, and will be investigated for possible involvement in the killings of Mohammad Ahmadi. [12] [13] The police said in a statement that there was evidence that Syed knew the victims to some extent, and that the killings may have been motivated by "inter-personal conflict" as well as sectarian hate. [14] Syed denied involvement in the killings. [15]

Syed was working as a cook when he and his family fled Afghanistan in 2012 for Pakistan, where they lived until being admitted to the US as refugees in 2016. Although Syed claimed to have fought the Taliban as part of an elite Afghan National Army unit, his US government profile listed no military experience and an expert described his claim as "fishy". Beginning the year after he immigrated to the US, Syed was arrested for domestic violence three times, and one of his sons claimed Syed beat him and his mother repeatedly. All three cases were dismissed: the first two when Syed's alleged victims refused to press charges, and the third after he completed a pretrial intervention program. Syed was also arrested for failing to pull over for police; that charge, too, was dismissed. [16] [7]

In March 2024, Syed was convicted of first-degree murder Aftab Hussein. [17] In New Mexico, first-degree murder conviction carries minimum sentence of 30 years to life, but sentencing date hasn't been set. On September 3, 2024, Syed pled no contest to charges of second-degree murder, for killing Muhammad and Naeem Hussain. Under the terms of plea deal, he will serve 30 years in prison for both charges, concurrent with any sentence he receives for first-degree murder conviction. [18]

Syed's son

On August 14, 2022, the U.S. Attorney for New Mexico stated that they were seeking to detain Muhammad Syed's son Shaheen "Maiwand" Syed in connection with up to two of the killings based on cell tower data, phone records, and the recovery of a pistol in the son's room, though the son's attorney called the allegations, "exceedingly thin and speculative." Shaheen Syed has been arrested on August 9 on an unrelated federal charge of using an incorrect address while purchasing a firearm in 2021. [8] He was eventually not charged with any murder, and was held until being released to halfway house on October 7, 2022. Syed pleaded guilty on January 9, 2023 and served 70 days in prison. He is currently on three-year supervised release. [19]

Reactions

The belief that Islamophobia was behind the killings prompted Albuquerque's Muslim community to temporarily shutter businesses, and Muslim residents to either stay in their homes or move out of state. [20] Reuters reported that the killings led to "days [of] bolstering security around Albuquerque-area mosques, seeking to allay fears of a shooter driven by anti-Muslim hate." [14]

The Albuquerque Muslim community reacted with sadness following the arrest of Syed, who is a Muslim himself. [20] [21] Some residents expressed concern that Syed's arrest would fuel perceptions of Muslims as violent or extreme. [20]

On August 10, the Islamic Center of Albuquerque held a community prayer for the men killed, while Sunni and Shia leaders came together in Washington, D.C. to send messages of solidarity. [22] In an interview with Insider , a brother of one of the victims said he did not believe that the killings were religiously motivated. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orlando Anderson</span> Prime suspect in the murder of Tupac Shakur (1974–1998)

Orlando Tive "Baby Lane" Anderson was an American Crips gang member suspected in the murder of Tupac Shakur. Anderson belonged to the California-based gang known as the South Side Compton Crips. Detective Tim Brennan of the Compton Police Department filed an affidavit naming Anderson as a suspect; he denied involvement and was never charged. Anderson's uncle, Duane Keith Davis, was charged with Shakur's murder on September 29, 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altaf Hussain (Pakistani politician)</span> British Pakistani politician; founder of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (born 1953)

Altaf Hussain is a British Pakistani politician who is known as the founder of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. He holds United Kingdom citizenship and has been living in exile in the UK since the start of Operation Clean-up. Since 2015, he has been a fugitive from the Anti Terrorism Court of Pakistan on the charges of murder, targeted killing, treason, inciting violence and hate speech. He went on trial in the UK in January 2022 for promoting terrorism and unrest through hate speech in Pakistan, and was acquitted the next month. He had fled the country in 1992 after a crackdown against his party was launched.

On Thursday, 21 July 2005, four attempted bomb attacks by Islamist extremists disrupted part of London's public transport system as a follow-up attack from the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The explosions occurred around midday at Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval stations on the London Underground, and on London Buses route 26 in Haggerston. A fifth bomber dumped his device without attempting to set it off.

Syed Naeem Altaf Bokhari is a Pakistani lawyer and television personality. Previously, he has hosted Khabarnaak on a Pakistani news channel Geo News. On 23 November 2020, He has been appointed Chairman of Pakistan Television Corporation.

Rashid Rauf was an alleged Al-Qaeda operative. He was a dual citizen of Britain and Pakistan who was arrested in Bhawalpur, Pakistan in connection with the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot in August 2006, a day before some arrests were made in Britain. Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao claimed that "he is an al Qaeda operative with linkages in Afghanistan". He was identified as one of the ringleaders of the alleged plot. In December 2006, the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi found no evidence that he had been involved in terrorist activities, and his charges were downgraded to forgery and possession of explosives. A 2022 article offers an assessment of the impact of Operation Overt and refers to Rauf's alleged role

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrorism in the United States</span>

In the United States, a common definition of terrorism is the systematic or threatened use of violence in order to create a general climate of fear to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political, religious, or ideological change. This article serves as a list and a compilation of acts of terrorism, attempts to commit acts of terrorism, and other such items which pertain to terrorist activities which are engaged in by non-state actors or spies who are acting in the interests of state actors or persons who are acting without the approval of foreign governments within the domestic borders of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Rock recruiting office shooting</span>

The 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting took place on June 1, 2009, when Carlos Leon Bledsoe opened fire with a rifle in a drive-by shooting on soldiers in front of a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas. He killed Private William Long and wounded Private Quinton Ezeagwula.

The D.C. Five is a group of Muslim Americans from the suburbs of Washington, D.C., with suspected ties to terrorism. The five men were detained on December 9, 2009, during a police raid in Pakistan on a house with links to a militant group. In part of an increasing trend in homegrown terrorism, they were in their late teens or early twenties.

Syed Talha Ahsan is a British poet and translator. He is winner of the Platinum and Bronze Koestler Awards 2012 for his poetry. He won the Koestler Award for his poem "Grieving",. He is also the translator of a tenth-century Arabic poem, "Above the Dust", by Syrian Abu Firas Al-Hamdani, on his captivity in Byzantium.

James Matthew Boyd was an American man who was fatally shot by Albuquerque Police Department officers Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque, New Mexico on the evening of March 16, 2014. A resident of a nearby subdivision called police at 3:28 p.m. to report that a man had been camping on the mountain behind his house for the previous month, a violation of local regulations. Two Open Space officers were the first to respond. They approached Boyd as he lay under a sheet of plastic; Boyd, mentally ill with a diagnosis of schizo-affective disorder, became irate, wanting to know why the "raid" was occurring. When an officer tried to pat him down, he produced two pocket knives, threatening the officers with them. The caller watched the confrontation from his second-story window and later testified that Boyd threatened the officers.

Ali Muhammad Brown is a convicted murderer in a 2014 murder spree. Brown has confessed and pleaded guilty to killing Ahmed Said, Dwone Anderson-Young, and Leroy Henderson in Seattle and 19-year-old college student Brendan Tevlin in West Orange, New Jersey, between April and June 2014. Brown was previously convicted of bank fraud believed to be in support of terrorists in Somalia, and "communication with a minor for immoral purposes".

Journalist Aftab Alam and four others were killed in several related attacks in North Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Alam was targeted for murder by the Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP) to provoke sectarian violence in Pakistan as he was from the Deobandi movement and to receive the widespread news coverage that a journalist typically receives when killed. At least four others were killed in the same terrorist operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pike County shootings</span> American mass shooting in 2016

The Pike County Shootings, also known as the Pike County Massacre, occurred on the night of April 21–22, 2016, when eight people – all belonging to the Rhoden family – were shot and killed in four homes in Pike County, Ohio, near the village of Peebles, 50 miles (80 km) from Columbus and 60 miles (97 km) from Cincinnati. Their bodies were found later on April 22. Seven of the victims – six adults and a 16-year-old boy – were discovered to have been shot execution-style in three adjacent houses, while the eighth victim, an adult male, was found shot to death in his camper in nearby Piketon. Three young children, including two infants, were physically unharmed. At least two shooters were initially believed to be responsible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Fresno shootings</span> Racially motivated shooting spree in Fresno, California

On April 18, 2017, a racially motivated shooting spree occurred in Fresno, California, leaving three white people dead. The gunman, Kori Ali Muhammad was convicted of four murders and four attempted murders. Muhammad said he went on his shooting spree because of his hatred for white people and particularly white men. Muhammad fired off 17 shots, shooting and killing three men, shooting at and missing another three men, and shooting at a vehicle with passengers inside. The passengers of the vehicle were unharmed. All of Muhammad's victims were white.

The 2019 Nevada killing spree was a series of murders in January 2019 in which an assailant broke into three homes in Douglas and Washoe Counties in northwestern Nevada, murdered the elderly inhabitants, and made off with valuables. Reports of the crimes terrified area residents for several days until a police manhunt identified and apprehended Wilber Ernesto Martinez-Guzman. The sheriff's report states that Martinez-Guzman later confessed.

Kamlesh Tiwari was an Indian politician who founded the Hindu Samaj Party in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandidos MC criminal allegations and incidents in the United States</span>

The Bandidos Motorcycle Club has been designated an outlaw motorcycle gang by the U.S. Department of Justice. The club is involved in drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, prostitution, money laundering, explosives violations, motorcycle and motorcycle-parts theft, intimidation, insurance fraud, kidnapping, robbery, theft, stolen property, counterfeiting, contraband smuggling, murder, bombings, extortion, arson and assault. The Bandidos partake in transporting and distributing cocaine and marijuana, and the production, transportation and distribution of methamphetamine. Active primarily in the Northwestern, Southeastern, Southwestern and the West Central regions, there are an estimated 800 to 1,000 Bandidos members and 93 chapters in 16 U.S. states.

References

  1. ↑ Gorman, Steve (August 8, 2022). "New Mexico police seek public's help in probe of four Muslim slayings". Reuters. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  2. ↑ Romero, Dennis. "'Vehicle of interest' sought in slayings of 4 Muslim men in New Mexico". NBC News. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  3. ↑ "One of four Muslim men slain in potentially linked Albuquerque killings remembered as 'brilliant public servant'". CNN. August 7, 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  4. ↑ "'No place in America': Biden denounces killing of four Muslims". Al Jazeera. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  5. 1 2 "New Mexico man knew the 2 Muslim men he's charged with killing, police say". The Washington Post. August 11, 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  6. 1 2 Romero, Simon; Bohra, Neelam; Bogel-Burroughs, Nicholas; Sasani, Ava (August 9, 2022). "Albuquerque Police Detain Suspect in Killings of Muslim Men". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  7. 1 2 "The suspect in the killings of 4 Muslim men in New Mexico left a trail of violence". The Associated Press. NPR. August 13, 2022. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
  8. 1 2 "Evidence ties the son of the suspect in the New Mexico Muslim killings to the crimes, authorities allege". NBC News. August 15, 2022 [2022-08-14]. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Biden 'angered, horrified' over killings of 4 Muslim men in New Mexico's Albuquerque". Dawn News. August 8, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  10. ↑ Salahieh, Nouran (August 8, 2022). "The recent killings of 4 Muslim men in Albuquerque have shaken the city. Here's what we know". CNN. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Afghan man charged in killing of 2 Muslims in Albuquerque". AP News. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  12. ↑ Reardon, Sophie; Martinez, Gina (August 10, 2022). "51-year-old man charged with murdering 2 Muslim men in Albuquerque; additional charges possible, police say". CBS News. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  13. ↑ Son of suspect in Muslim killings reaches plea deal
  14. 1 2 Hay, Andrew; Gorman, Steve (August 10, 2022). "Afghan Muslim arrested for killings that shook New Mexico's Islamic community". Reuters. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  15. ↑ Salahieh, Nouran; Afshar, Paradise (August 11, 2022). "Suspect in the killings of Muslim men in Albuquerque makes his first court appearance". CNN. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Man charged in 2 Albuquerque killings has domestic violence history, police say". ABC News. August 11, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  17. ↑ Suspect accused of killing 3 Muslim men in Albuquerque found guilty of murder
  18. ↑ "Afghan refugee pleads no contest to 2 murders in case that shocked Albuquerque's Muslim community". AP News. September 3, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  19. ↑ Raja, Bethany (March 18, 2024). "Life continues for family of man accused in Albuquerque's Muslim murders". City Desk ABQ. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  20. 1 2 3 Sullivan, Becky (August 10, 2022). "Fear turns to shock among Albuquerque Muslims as police say the shooter is a Muslim". NPR . Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  21. ↑ Montoya Brian, Susan; Dazio, Stefanie; Fam, Mariam (August 10, 2022). "New Mexico's Muslim community reels from arrest in killings". AP News. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  22. ↑ Padilla, Anna; Garate, Jessica (August 10, 2022). "Sunni, Shia leaders in Washington D.C. discuss Muslim shootings, arrest". KRQE . Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  23. ↑ Orecchio-Egresitz, Haven; Collman, Ashley (August 10, 2022). "Anti-Muslim hate crimes? Inter-sect beef? Brother of 1 of 4 slain New Mexico men asks the public to stop guessing". Insider . Retrieved August 13, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.