Thursday, March 28

Accused killer had previously been asked to leave mosque


Ahmad Assed, president of the Islamic Center of New Mexico, speaks during a news conference last week about the homicides of Muslim men. (Chancey Bush/Albuquerque Journal)

In February 2020, a woman reported the tires on her family’s car had been slashed in the parking lot of the Islamic Center of New Mexico in Southeast Albuquerque.

Muhammad Syed, 51. (Source: APD)

Security guards pulled up video surveillance and determined that Muhammad Atif Syed was responsible.

The center’s leadership administered Syed and told him to leave the mosque — which he did for several months.

Then, more than a year and a half later, the woman’s brother-in-law — 62-year-old Muhammad Zahir Ahmadi — was shot to death behind the Halal market he owned with his brother. Albuquerque police say Syed is the primary suspect, although he has not been charged.

Syed, 51, is charged with two counts of murder in the fatal shootings of two other Muslim men — Aftab Hussein, 41, on July 26 and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, on Aug. 1. Investigators say casings left at those scenes came from guns he owns.

Police say he is also the primary suspect in the Aug. 5 fatal shooting of Naeem Hussain, 25, although they are still investigating.

Syed’s son has also been arrested on a federal gun violation in an unrelated case.

Mohammad Ahmadi

Ahmadi’s brother did not respond to messages from the Journal but Ahmad Assed, the center’s president, said that at the time the family did not want to report the slashed tires to police. Assed provided the video of the incident to the Journal on Wednesday.

Police have said Syed knew the men “to some extent” and that “an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings.” Syed told investigators that he “has known Naeem Hussain since 2016 and recognized Aftab Hussein from parties in the community,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Syed was arrested Monday night outside Santa Rosa on his way to Texas. Prosecutors have asked him to be held pending trial citing the fact that “his actions by him make it clear that human life holds no value” to him. His attorney did not respond to calls for comment.

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speculation

Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27 (Courtesy of Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain)

Officials estimate there are between 5,000 and 10,000 Muslims living in Albuquerque and Assed guessed about 80% are Sunni, 20% are Shiite. He said it’s common for members of both groups to visit the Islamic Center of New Mexico.

Of the four Muslim men who were killed three were practicing Shiite Islam. Syed was a Sunni Muslim, as was Muhammad Afzaal Hussain.

Assed had told The New York Times following Syed’s arrest that members of the Muslim community were speculating about a sectarian motive.

From there it spread like wildfire and numerous Muslim groups came forward to denounce the violence.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations held a news conference alongside Sunni and Shiite leaders in Washington, DC, Wednesday morning to condemn anti-Shiite hatred.

“We have seen reports and some speculations about the motives about the perpetrator of these crimes,” said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. “There is no justification for this evil, there is no justification for taking an innocent life. In our faith the taking of an innocent life is equivalent to the taking of the life of the entire humanity and that’s what this perpetrator did. There is no way to explain, justify this deranged behavior and we as a community, regardless of our background, are united against hate and violence.”

Naeem Hussain (Courtesy of Tahir Gauba)

But Assed cautioned that speculation that Syed had targeted the men because they are Shiite Muslims is just that — a rumor. At a news conference Tuesday, an Albuquerque Police Department official said “we’re not really clear if that was the actual motive or if it was part of the motive, or if there’s a bigger picture that we’re missing.”

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“It’s something that has yet not been proven, nor has there been any reliability offered to promote this rumor, or theory, no credibility given by law enforcement that I know of these allegations,” Ahmad said. “This was one of the rumors among many. So law enforcement knows it. I know about it. We’ve discussed it. I can clearly attest that there has been zero determination by law enforcement that it is in fact what happened.”

Previous cases

Several years ago Syed’s daughter married a Shiite man and the couple knew at least two of the victims. One had helped them when they got married.

Aftab Hussein. (Courtesy APD)

The daughter is the oldest of six and the family are refugees from Afghanistan who came to the US about six years ago.

In 2017, Syed was charged with a misdemeanor battery after his daughter’s then boyfriend — now-husband — reported that Syed had beaten him up. He said Syed, his son de él and his wife found him in the car with Syed’s daughter, dragged him out and punched and kicked him because they did not want her to be in a relationship with him, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court at the time.

The state dismissed the case “in the best interest of justice.”

“If there was going to be anger by Mr. Syed as to a relationship the daughter had it would probably be more about the nature of the relationship rather than the identity of who she’s having a relationship with,” Assed said. “Culturally speaking, and religiously speaking, having a boyfriend or girlfriend — it’s not normal.”

Wednesday morning a woman who opened the door at Syed’s Southeast Albuquerque apartment declined to speak with the Journal. Another woman said the family were victims too.

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A neighbor told the Journal she had frequently heard screaming and fighting from the family’s apartment. Syed had been charged twice with misdemeanor domestic violence against his wife and son in the past.

are charged

Through the course of the investigation into Syed, federal agent uncovered discrepancies in paperwork his son had filed when he purchased a firearm.

Shaheen Syed, who used to go by “Maiwand Syed,” is now charged with providing a false address when he bought a gun last year. He was arrested Wednesday.

According to a criminal complaint filed in US District Court for New Mexico, when Shaheen Syed bought two guns from a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) gun store in Albuquerque in June 2021 he listed his address as being in Broward County, Florida.

When an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives checked the address the resident said he had lived there for several years and Shaheen Syed had never lived there. Shaheen Syed told an Albuquerque homicide detective he had lived in Albuquerque since 2016.

The agent said it was important to provide a correct address so that the ATF could determine whether it was legal to sell the gun to that person.

The guns Shaheen Syed is accused of buying while using a false address are not mentioned in the criminal complaint charging his father with murder. That complaint does list several other guns Shaheen Syed and his father bought him as well as a scope they bought the same day Muhammad Afzaal Hussain was killed.

Police arrest suspect in killings of Muslim men

Man from Afghanistan charged in two of four homicides…


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