The ambush killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque, New Mexico, rocked the community but inspired a flood of information, including a tip that led to the arrest of a local Muslim from Afghanistan who knew the victims, authorities said.
Muhammad Syed, 51, was arrested Monday after a traffic stop more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from his home in Albuquerque. He was charged with killing two victims and was identified as the prime suspect in the other two murders, authorities announced Tuesday.
The Muslim community is breathing “an incredible sigh of relief,” said Ahmad Assed, president of the Islamic Center of New Mexico. “Lives have been turned upside down.”
It was not immediately clear if Syed had an attorney to speak on his behalf.
The first murder last November was followed by three more between July 26 and August 5.
Police Chief Harold Medina said it was still unclear whether the deaths should be classified as hate crimes or serial killings or both.
Syed was from Afghanistan and had lived in the United States for about five years, police said.
“The offender knew the victims to some degree, and an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings,” a police statement said, although investigators were still working to identify how they crossed paths.
When asked specifically if Syed, a Sunni Muslim, was angry that his daughter was marrying a Shia Muslim, Deputy Police Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock did not respond directly. He said “the reasons are still being fully explored to understand what they are.”
Assed acknowledged that “there was a marriage,” but cautioned against jumping to any conclusions about the motivation of Syed, who occasionally attended the downtown mosque.
Police said Syed gave them a statement but did not reveal details.
The killings drew the attention of President Joe Biden, who said such attacks “do not happen in America.” They also shook Muslim communities in the U.S. Some people questioned their safety and restricted their movements.
“There is no justification for this evil. There is no justification for taking an innocent life,” Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said at a news conference Tuesday in Washington, DC.
He called the killings “disturbed behavior.”
The first case is the murder in November of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, from Afghanistan.
Naeem Hussain, a 25-year-old man from Pakistan, was killed on Friday night. 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.
Ehsan Chahalmi, Naeem Hussain’s brother-in-law, said he was “a generous, kind, generous, forgiving and loving soul who has been taken from us forever”.
Syed is currently charged with the murders of Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain because bullet casings found at the crime scene were linked to a gun found at his home, authorities said.
Investigators consider Syed the prime suspect in the deaths of Naeem Hussain and Ahmadi, but have not yet filed charges in those cases.
The announcement that the shootings appeared to be related produced more than 200 tips, including one from the Muslim community that police credited with leading them to the Syed family.
Police said they were about to raid Syed’s Albuquerque home on Monday when they saw him drive away in a Volkswagen Jetta that investigators believe was used in at least one of the killings.
Officers followed him to Santa Rosa, about 110 miles (177 kilometers) east of Albuquerque, where they arrested him. Several firearms were recovered from his home and car, police said.
According to authorities, Syed’s children were questioned and released.
Prosecutors expect to file murder charges in state court and are considering adding a federal case, authorities said.
Shias constitute the second largest branch of Islam after Sunnis.
Aneela Abad, secretary general of the Islamic center, said the two Muslim communities in New Mexico enjoy warm ties.
“Our Shia community has always been there for us and we Sunnis have always been there for them,” he said.
Muhammad Afzaal Hussain had worked as a field organizer for Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury’s campaign.
“Muhammad was kind, hopeful, optimistic,” she said, describing him as an urban planner “who believed in democracy and social change, and who believed that we could, in fact, build a brighter future for our communities and for our world.”
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Dazio reported from Los Angeles and Fam from Winter Park, Florida. Associated Press writer Robert Jablon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.