First was the killing of a Muslim from Afghanistan late last year. Then came two more murders in the last two weeks: men from Pakistan who attended the same mosque in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
These deaths were followed on Friday by the fourth homicide of a Muslim in the city in nine months. Taken together, the killings have sent waves of fear through Islamic communities in New Mexico and beyond and fueled a race to find who was responsible.
On Monday, authorities identified the latest victim as they sought help searching for a vehicle believed to be connected to the killings. The common elements were the race and religion of the victims, officials said.
Naeem Hussain was killed on Friday night, and the other three men were killed in an ambush shooting. Police in New Mexico’s largest city are trying to determine if the deaths are related.
“The fact that the suspect remains at large is terrifying,” Debbie Almontaser, a leader of the New York Muslim community, wrote on Twitter. “What’s next?!”
In a phone interview, Almontaser said a friend who lives in Michigan and wears a headscarf shared with her over the weekend how blown away she was. “She says, ‘This is so terrifying. I am very scared. I travel alone,’” said Almontaser.
Hussain, 25, was from Pakistan. His death came days after that of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, and Aftab Hussein, 41, who were also from Pakistan and members of the same mosque.
The first case is the murder in November of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, from Afghanistan.
Aneela Abad, general secretary of the Islamic Center of New Mexico, described a community reeling from the killings, their grief compounded by confusion and fear of what may come next.
“We are completely shocked and still trying to comprehend and understand what happened, how and why,” he said.
Some people have avoided going out unless it’s “absolutely necessary,” and some Muslim college students have questioned whether it’s safe for them to stay in the city, he said. The center has also strengthened its security.
Police said the same vehicle is suspected to have been used in all four homicides: a dark gray or silver four-door Volkswagen that appears to be a Jetta or Passat with tinted windows. Authorities released photos in hopes people could help identify the car and offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
Investigators did not say where the footage was taken or what led them to suspect the car was involved in the killings. Police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in an email Monday that the agency has received tips about the car, but did not provide further details.
“We have a very, very strong bond,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said Sunday. “We have a vehicle of interest… We need to find this vehicle.”
Gallegos said he could not comment on what type of weapon was used in the shootings, or whether police know how many suspects were involved in the violence.
President Joe Biden said he was “angry and saddened” by the killings and that his administration “stands strongly with the Muslim community.”
“These hateful attacks do not happen in America,” Biden said in a tweet on Sunday.
The conversation about security has also dominated the WhatsApp and email groups in which Almontaser is active.
“What we’ve seen happen in New Mexico is very harrowing for us as a minority Muslim community in the United States that has suffered so much backlash and discrimination” since the 9/11 attacks, he said. “It’s scary.”
Few anti-Muslim hate crimes have been reported in Albuquerque over the past five years, according to FBI data cited by Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and a professor of criminal justice at California State University in San Bernardino. .
From 2017 to 2020, there was one anti-Muslim hate crime per year. The highest recent number was in 2016, when Albuquerque police recorded six of a total of 25 hate crimes.
That largely follows national trends, which hit the lowest numbers in a decade in 2020, only to rise 45 percent in 2021 in a dozen cities and states, Levin said.
Albuquerque authorities say they cannot determine whether the killings were hate crimes until they have identified a suspect and a motive.
Louis Schlesinger, a professor of forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said bias killings tend to be perpetrated by a small group of people, usually young white men. A solitary author is rare.
“These are basically total losers on every dimension, whether it’s social, economic, psychological, what have you,” he said. “They are filled with hatred for one reason or another and they target a particular group that they see, in their mind, to blame for all their problems in life.”
It was unclear whether the victims knew their assailant or the attackers.
The most recent victim was found dead after police received a call of a shooting. Authorities declined to say whether the killing was carried out in a manner similar to the other deaths.
Muhammad Afzaal Hussain had worked as a field organizer for the campaign of a local congresswoman.
Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury issued a statement praising him as “one of the kindest, hardest-working people” she has ever met. He said the city planner was “committed to making our public spaces work for every person and cleaning up legacy pollution.”
As land use director for the city of Espanyola, more than 137 kilometers north of Albuquerque, Hussain worked to improve the conditions and inclusion of disadvantaged minorities, the mayor’s office said .
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Dazio reported from Los Angeles and Fam from Winter Park, Florida. Associate press writer Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington and AP news researchers Rhonda Shafner and Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.