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Who is Muhammad Syed? Afghan man allegedly kills 2 in Albuquerque after Sunni daughter marries Shiite man

Besides being charged with killing two Pakistani immigrants, Muhammad Syed, 51, is also suspected of killing two other Afghan-born Muslim men

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO: A man has been arrested as the prime suspect in the serial killing of at least two of four Muslim men in Albuquerque. Muhammad Syed, 51, is believed to be a Sunni Muslim who lived in southeast Albuquerque. The suspected serial killer reportedly emigrated from Afghanistan. 

It is believed that Syed began targeting Muslim men out of rage after his Sunni daughter married a Shiite Muslim, according to the New York Times. The brother of one of the victims, however, dismissed the hypothesis claiming their family was Sunni and not Shiite. Albuquerque police said that Syed was identified through his car. "As detectives prepared to search Syed's home on Monday, Syed drove from the residence in the Volkswagen Jetta that detectives believe was used in at least one of the murders," they said in a statement. 

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"Detectives detained Syed and searched his home and the vehicle," they added. "They discovered evidence that further tied Syed to the murders. Detectives discovered evidence that show the offender knew the victims to some extend and an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings." Police reportedly received more than 200 tips.

In a recent Facebook post, Albuquerque Police Department said, "As detectives prepared to search Syed’s home in Southeast Albuquerque on Monday, Syed drove from the residence in the Volkswagon Jetta that detectives believe was used in at least one of the murders. Detectives detained Syed and searched his home and the vehicle. They discovered additional evidence that further tied Syed to the murders. Detectives discovered evidence that shows the offender knew the victims to some extent and an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings."

Who is Muhammad Syed?

The Daily Mail obtained court records that revealed Syed was charged with domestic violence twice, but the charges were eventually dropped. He was arrested in May 2018 and charged with "battery (household member)." However, the charges were dropped in August of the same year after he pleaded not guilty. Syed was again charged with aggravated battery in December 2018, but the case was dismissed in April 2019. Syed's son Maiwand said his father beat both him and his mother. The son's head started bleeding after being hit with a metal spoon, the police report said.

Syed has now been charged with two of the Albuquerque murders -- the July 26 killing of Aftab Hussein, 41, and the August 1 death of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27. Both the men were from Pakistan and had moved to the US. The police said that the gun used to shoot these two men was found at Syed's home. The two other victims, who were Afghan-born, were identified as Mohammad Zahir Ahmadi, 62, and Naeem Hussain, 25.

The president of the city's largest mosque, Ahmad Assed, confirmed that he was told, that the hatred of Shiite Muslims was being investigated as a possible motive. The different denominations of Islam have opposing beliefs on who should have succeeded the Prophet Muhammad, but both branches follow the same holy book and worship the same god. "To experience something as atrocious and as horrific as what we've experienced the past few weeks is just mind-boggling," Assed said. "It feels like we're in a parallel universe."

Imtiaz Hussain, the brother of Afzaal Hussain, has claimed that he does not believe in the theory because his family is Sunni. "My brother is a Sunni Muslim. Not a Shite Muslim," Imtiaz, who was a prosecutor in Pakistan before moving to Albuquerque, said. "So I reject the theory that has been widely published that Muhammad Syed killed my brother and others because his daughter married a Shiite Muslim."

"My brother was a Muslim. He never carried any ID that said he was a Sunni or Shiite," he said, adding that he does not believe his brother knew the suspect. "He only went to the Islamic Center every three to four months. 'I've never met this person who murdered my brother nor do I think my brother knew him. He's 51 years old, my brother is 30 years younger, they wouldn't have a lot in common with that age gap," he further said.

The victims

Naeem Hussein had become a United States citizen just last month, his brother-in-law Ehsan Shahalami said. He opened his own trucking business earlier this year. Hussein previously worked as a case manager for Lutheran Family Services, where he helped refugees who have relocated to the United States from Afghanistan after the US troops were withdrawn from the country. He was shot and killed while in his car inside a parking lot. 

Mohammad Ahmadi was found outside the café he and his brother, Sharief A Hadi, ran together. The Afghan-born brother, who ran the Ariana Halal Market & Café together, emigrated to the United States with their father in the early 1980s. They first lived in Pennsylvania and then moved to New Mexico after Hadi. 

Victim Aftab Hussein, who moved to New Mexico in 2016, was working as a busser for a local café. He rented a second-story apartment near the Mesa Verde Community Center with two roommates. He told his roommates that he recently got engaged to a woman in Pakistan. He was planning to go to Pakistan and get married, his friend Iftikhar Amirjan told The Albuquerque Journal. His frightened roommates have since moved out. 

Muhammad Afzaal Hussain was murdered outside his home. Hussain was born in Pakistan and moved to the United States in 2017 to get a master's degree in community and regional planning at the University of New Mexico. He served as president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association from 2019 to 2020. He got a job as the planning and land use director for the city of Española, before which he worked with Representative Melanie Stansbury's campaign for Congress.

President Joe Biden had earlier taken to Twitter to express his anger over the killings. "I am angered and saddened by the horrific killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque. While we await a full investigation, my prayers are with the victims’ families, and my Administration stands strongly with the Muslim community," he wrote, adding, "These hateful attacks have no place in America."