If there is light at the end of the dark tunnel of the senseless, barbaric murder of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, Española’s director of planning and land use, it is the glimmer of hope that the man police identified as the “primary suspect” Tuesday in the death of Hussain and that of Aftab Hussein has been apprehended.
Albuquerque police announced on Tuesday they had arrested Muhammad Syed,51, an immigrant from Afghanistan. He has been charged in the killing of Hussain, 27, on Monday, Aug. 1, and the murder of Hussein, 41, on July 26.
Syed was arrested driving a Volkswagen Jetta that authorities had believed was involved in at least one of the murders. During the weekend the police had issued a description of a car believed to be linked to the crimes. According to reports, bullet casings found at the scene of both murders connected the crimes.
The suspect is Muslim, which would indicate the murders were not hate crimes as originally thought but instead were the result of either personal and/or race and religious differences.
One report speculated that Syed, a Sunni Muslim, “may have targeted the victims because he was angry over his daughter marrying a Shiite Muslim.”
The Islamic community in New Mexico has been gripped with fear as word spread here and across the country of what at first appeared to be four hate-inspired murders. Reportedly Albuquerque’s Muslim community may range in size from 5,000 to 10,000. There are about 500,000 persons in the city.
If the suspect in custody was responsible for at least two of the killings the heavy yoke of those fears will be lifted from the shoulders of the Islamic community.
Muhammad Hussain’s murder hit home in Española because he had been the planning and land use director here for a year. He quickly gained the confidence and trust of those he worked with because of his intelligence, big smile, warm heart, engaging personality and strong work ethic.
It now seems likely he was targeted in the shooting for reasons most of us may never understand. What we do understand is that a young man, 25 years old, politically motivated, a loving and devoted uncle to a brother’s two young sons, a man with talent, ambition and drive, was murdered in a crime that at its core was utterly vicious and senseless.
As Albuquerque sorts through these murders for answers it is clearly a city in turmoil, and its residents have reason to remain fearful. A total of 116 persons were murdered there in 2021, the most of any year in the city’s history. This year, that tragic number has already been surpassed. With 131 murders so far in 2022, Albuquerque is way out of step — in the wrong way — with the rest of the country.
Even though violence abounds in these times, shootings have declined by four per cent in the United States this year versus last year and murders in the nation’s larger cities are down by 3 percent, according to published reports.
“If the decrease in murders co The New York Times ntinues for the rest of 2022, it will be the first year since 2018 in which they fell in the U.S.,” wrote this week. But not in Albuquerque.
The good news about the murder rate on the national level does not dull the pain of Muhammad’s family members, co-workers and former fellow students at the University of New Mexico, or the loved ones of the other three men who were murdered.
We can only hope that after what appears to be superb police work in Albuquerque those responsible will be brought to justice to lift the dark cloud of terror and fear resulting from these horrible crimes.
News organizations and police departments have at least one thing in common. They are nothing without sources and tips. The Albuquerque police had identified what it thought was a car driven by the shooter or shooters. A reward was offered. Tips to the police department helped produce a quick arrest in the case.
As the Rio Grande SUN reported: “When Chief Harold Medina announced the arrest of Syed on Tuesday, he gave a message to Albuquerque’s Muslim community: ‘You put faith in us. You trusted us. You passed information on to us that was crucial, and that led to us being able to make an arrest in this case.’”
The work of the courts will follow. Finding those who are guilty will not heal broken hearts but can create a salvation of sorts.
Sending a message to those who do not value and honor life is a message worth delivering, especially now, especially in Albuquerque. That message will be, “You can’t get away with murder.”