ALBUQUERQUE: According to police, the primary suspect in the four Muslim men’s slayings in New Mexico’s largest city has been detained and is a Muslim immigrant from Afghanistan.
Police announced on Tuesday that they had arrested 51-year-old Muhammad Syed, a member of the city’s immigrant Muslim community, after days of stepping up security near mosques in the Albuquerque area in an effort to alleviate concerns of a gunman motivated by anti-Muslim hatred.
The deaths may have been motivated by a personal vendetta, maybe with inter-Muslim sectarian overtones, according to the authorities. The four fatalities were all of the Pakistani or Afghan ancestry. The other three were killed within the past two weeks, with one occurring in November.
When the suspect’s Albuquerque home was examined, “evidence that shows the perpetrator knew the victims to some extent and an interpersonal quarrel may have contributed to the shootings” was reportedly discovered, according to a police statement announcing the arrest.
