Police believe the death of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain on August 1 could be linked to the killing of three other Muslim men. The most recent killing, to which Albuquerque police were alerted Friday night, came a day after authorities determined there was a connection between the killings of Hussain and Aftab Hussein, 41, who , like Hussain, was from Pakistan.
Detectives are working to determine whether the November killing of Mohammad Ahmadi, a Muslim from Afghanistan killed outside a business he ran with his brother, was also related.
At the time he was killed, Hussain was working on the planning team for the city of Espanola, New Mexico, according to a news release from the mayor, who said he was “deeply saddened” to learn of the death of man
“Muhammad was soft-spoken and kind, and quick to laugh,” Mayor John Ramon Vigil said in a press release last Wednesday. “He was well respected and loved by his co-workers and members of the community.”
Hussain, who had worked in the office for a year, studied law and human resource management at Punjab University in Pakistan, the mayor’s statement said, before receiving both a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in community planning. and regional from the University of New Mexico.
“Our City staff has lost a member of our family,” the mayor said, “and we have all lost a brilliant public servant who wanted to serve and improve his community.”
The victims were “ambushed without any warning,” police say
The FBI is assisting with the investigation, according to a news release from the Albuquerque Police Department, which has created an online portal where residents can upload videos and images that may help authorities investigate the recent killings. The local Crime Stoppers Board has voted to increase the reward for information leading to an arrest from $15,000 to $20,000. “These shootings are disturbing,” Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said at a news conference Saturday shortly after the fourth victim was discovered.
Albuquerque police officers responded to reports of a shooting in the area of Truman Street and Grand Avenue shortly before midnight Friday and found the victim dead, according to the police department’s news release. The victim, a Muslim man believed to be in his 20s, was from South Asia, police said. His identity has not been positively confirmed, the statement added.
Hussain, Hussein and Ahmadi were “ambushed without warning, shot and killed,” Kyle Hartsock, deputy commander of the police department’s Criminal Investigations Division, said earlier.
“Our top priority is keeping the community safe, and we’re especially asking the Muslim community to be vigilant, to watch out for each other. If you see something, say something,” the police chief said Saturday. “Evil shall not prevail.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is also offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible, the organization announced, calling the killing spree a “horrific and hateful spree of shots”.
“We thank local, state and federal law enforcement for their ongoing work in this crisis, and call on the Biden administration to ensure that authorities have all the resources necessary to protect Albuquerque’s Muslim community and stop those responsible for these horrific crimes before claiming more innocent lives,” CAIR Deputy National Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.
CNN’s Raja Razek and Christina Maxouris contributed to this report.