The latest victim, Nayeem Hussain, 25, a truck driver who became a US citizen on July 8, was killed on Friday, hours after attending the burial of the two men slain in July and August, both of them of Pakistani descent.
The three most recent victims all attended the Islamic Center of New Mexico, Albuquerque's largest mosque. They were all shot near Central Avenue in southeastern Albuquerque.
The first known victim, Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, a native of Afghanistan, was killed on November 7, 2021, while smoking a cigarette outside a grocery store and cafe that he ran with his brother in the southeastern part of the city.
BULLET CASINGS
Police said the two killings with which Syed was initially charged were tied together based on bullet casings found at the two murder scenes, and the gun used in those shootings was later found in his home.
According to police, detectives were preparing to search Syed's residence in southeastern Albuquerque on Monday when he drove from the residence in the car that investigators had identified to the public a day earlier as a "vehicle of interest."
Albuquerque and state authorities have been working to provide an extra police presence at mosques during times of prayer as the investigation proceeded in the city, home to as many as 5,000 Muslims out of a total population of 565,000.
The ambush-style shootings of the men have terrified Albuquerque's Muslim community. Families went into hiding in their homes, and some Pakistani students at the University of New Mexico left town out of fear.
Imtiaz Hussain, whose brother worked as a city planning director and was killed on Aug. 1, said news of the arrest reassured many in the Muslim community.
"My kids asked me, 'Can we sit on our balcony now?' and I said, 'Yes,' and they said, 'Can we go out and play now?' and I said, 'Yes,'" he said.
