Trial begins in killings of 3 Muslim men in Albuquerque
By Faith Egbuonu
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ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KOAT) — The trial for Muhammad Syed, 53, accused of fatal shootings of three Muslim men in Albuquerque has begun with jury selection on Monday, March 11, 2024.
A grand jury indicted Syed for three counts of first-degree murder and four counts of tampering with evidence for the murder of Aftab Hussein, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain and Naeem Hussain from July 26 through Aug. 5, 2022.
“This was a case that really gripped the city a couple of years ago. It seemed like people were being targeted for being Muslim. It raised a lot of issues about hate crimes,” KOAT legal expert John Day said.
“There was a lot of concern about whether this was some sort of a serial hate crime, as it turned out, according to law enforcement, that was not the issue,” Day said.
“There’s never been a sense of what the motive was, according to law enforcement. If there was a motive, the prosecution doesn’t necessarily have to prove that. They don’t have to prove to a jury what the motive was if they are zeroing in on a defendant,” Day told KOAT.
Each of the three murder cases will be tried separately over the span of two weeks, beginning with the trial over the death of Aftab Hussein. According to detectives, Hussein was shot and killed near his home in southeast Albuquerque on July 26, 2022.
“The defense, of course, is pushing back hard against the charges. We may have information that comes out at trial that nobody knew before,” Day said. “For any of the convictions, the defendant would be looking at life in prison in New Mexico.”
According to the Albuquerque Police Department, Syed is considered the prime suspect in the murder of Muhammad Ahmadi, shot and killed outside of his store on Nov. 7, 2021.
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