“These shootings are disturbing,” Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said. “We are putting every possible resource into these investigations.”
The fourth man, who has not been identified, was killed Friday night. According to a news release from police, officers responded just before midnight Friday to reports of a shooting in the area of Truman St. and Grand Ave. and found the victim dead.
The victim, a Muslim man believed to be in his mid-20s, was from South Asia, police said. His identity of him has not been positively confirmed, the release added.
The victims in the first three cases were all “ambushed with no warning, fired on and killed,” Kyle Hartsock, deputy commander of the police department’s Criminal Investigations Division, previously said.
“Our top priority is keeping the community safe and we are asking the Muslim community especially, to be vigilant, to watch out for one another. If you see something, say something,” the police chief said Saturday. “Evil will not prevail.”
27-year-old victim was a ‘brilliant public servant’
Hussain, who was killed Aug. 1, worked on the planning team for the city of Española, New Mexico, and Mayor John Ramon Vigil was “deeply saddened” to hear of the 27-year-old’s death.
“Muhammad was soft-spoken and kind, and quick to laugh,” Vigil said in a news release last Wednesday. “He was well-respected and well-liked by his coworkers and members of the community.”
Hussain, who had worked for the office for a year, studied law and human resource management at the University of Punjab in Pakistan, the mayor’s release said, before receiving both master’s and bachelor degrees in community and regional planning from the University of New Mexico.
Hussain’s interest, the mayor’s office said, “was in improving conditions and inclusivity for disadvantaged minorities.”
“Our City staff has lost a member of our family, and we all have lost a brilliant public servant who wanted to serve and improve his community,” the mayor’s statement said.
“We thank local, state and federal law enforcement for their ongoing work on this crisis, and we call the Biden administration to ensure that authorities all of the resources needed to both protect the Albuquerque Muslim community and stop those responsible for these horrific crimes before they claim more innocent lives,” CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in the statement.
CNN’s Michelle Watson and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.
www.cnn.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism