NM - July/August 2022 APD Investigating Serial Killer. 4 Victims All Male and Muslim

[SeattleStew]

‘People are beginning to panic’: Fourth Muslim man killed Friday night

Police investigating possible connection between Friday night killing and 3 other homicides of Muslim men

www.abqjournal.com

A third Muslim man has been shot and killed in Albuquerque since July 26 2022. The first man was killed in December 2021. Second man was killed July 26 2022. Third man killed August 1, and the fourth man was shot and killed last evening.

 

[Cryptic]

Three of the victoms were Pakistanis, one victim was Afghan.

The different ethnicities could reduce the chances of a family based dispute.

Muslim immigrant families can be large, with aspects of life such as extended family, marriages, businesses, living arrangements, and non family socialization all being intertwined.

This can lead to situations where a falling out in one aspect of life, can lead to stress producing, "domino" effects in other aspects of ones life that could be motives for murder.

But.... in this case, the victims were two different ethnicities. This reduces the chances of an inter family dispute. It also increases the chances of an "out side" motive.

 

[Cryptic]

One of the victim's (apparently the Afghan) is not readily identifiable as being a member of a Muslim linked ethnic group.

‘People are beginning to panic’: Fourth Muslim man killed Friday night

Police investigating possible connection between Friday night killing and 3 other homicides of Muslim men

www.abqjournal.com

Instead, his appeareanece, like a good number of Aghans, was an individual of European descent (reddish hair, light skin tone). Even his beard was not unusal when paired with his non Islamic, regiular street clothes.

In short, if the perpertrator has an "outside" motive, how would they quickly identify this particular victim as being Muslim? He was murdered outside a refugee office, but unless that office served Muslim related ethniciites exclusively, his presence there would not indicate he was Muslim.

Could the victims be connected to each other via another source besides family? Say, a mosque, business group, or other social organization?

 

[MassGuy]

'Vehicle of interest' sought in slayings of 4 Muslim men in New Mexico

The victims were gunned down in Albuquerque between November and last week. Police want to know more about a Volkswagen Jetta sedan.

www.nbcnews.com

Authorities said Sunday that they are seeking information about a "vehicle of interest" in connection with the slayings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque, New Mexico, since November.

Albuquerque Deputy Police Chief Cecily Barker said law enforcement is looking for a metallic charcoal or dark gray late-model Volkswagen Jetta from central New Mexico.


Mayor Tim Keller said before he introduced Barker: "We have a very, very strong lead. We have a vehicle of interest."

 

[imstilla.grandma]

"Incredibly terrified. Panicked. Some people want to move from the state until this thing is over. Some people have moved from the state," said Ahmad Assed, president of the Islamic Center of New Mexico.

"Businesses are closing ... early. Students won't leave their homes," he said.

"It's affecting people from coming over to the mosque to conduct their services, their prayers. So, in every aspect of daily life that we're used to or accustomed to following, it's impacted it in every way possible."

"I get in the car, and I'm watching every which way possible. I'm watching my side mirror. I'm looking in the back. I'm looking out for any sign of anything out of the ordinary," he said.

"At the end of the day, we don't have an alternative."

'Incredibly terrified.' 4 Muslims were gunned down in Albuquerque. Now some New Mexicans have fled the state, mosque leader says

Everyday life is now permeated by fear after four Muslim men were inexplicably gunned down in Albuquerque, a mosque leader said.

www.cnn.com

 

[cvaldez1975]

horrible. i hope that car is a lead.

 

[Cryptic]

horrible. i hope that car is a lead.

It looks like the 'Platinum Grey Metallic' color (grey in plain English) has been offered on Jettas for every year since at least 2009.

I wonder if the rims are standard dealer options?

 

[dub]

It looks like the 'Platinum Grey Metallic' color (grey in plain English) has been offered on Jettas for every year since at least 2009.

I wonder if the rims are standard dealer options?

Those aren’t “standard” Jetta rims on any year I can find, but I can’t figure out if they are some oddball VW rim (as opposed to something aftermarket) because VW does have a handful of those. I found a couple pictures online of Jettas with those exact rims, but only like two or three out of maybe 100 I looked at. They seem to be fairly unusual.

Jettas are pretty hard to nail the year down on as a lot of them are really similar, but my best guess is it’s a 2013 or 2014. I’m confident it’s somewhere between ‘12 and ‘17.

 

[PrimeSuspect]

“Our community has been devastated, as you can imagine," said Ahmad Assed, the president of Islamic Center of New Mexico.
“We have never gone through anything like this before. This is really a surreal time for us."
……
Authorities say they can't say yet if the shootings were hate crimes until they have identified a suspect and can determine a motive.
The killings came as Albuquerque is on pace for another record-setting year of murders.
A $15,000 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest.

Police suspect link in series of murders of Muslim men in New Mexico

Police in New Mexico believe that the separate murders of four Muslim men in the past nine months may be linked and have appealed for information.

www.abc.net.au

Let’s hope this vehicle is the link and LE can find it soon.

 

[sunshineray]

This is just horrible, tragic heartbreaking.I pray the release of this vehicle information catches who's responsible for this senseless and evil disregard for life.

 

[scriabina]

Heartbreaking interview with brother of one of the victims, a 27-yr-old graduate student and uncle.

He also watched his brother Afzaal walk out of their Albuquerque apartment Monday night to take a phone call – something both men did often. He didn’t know it would be the last time.

“He’s shot. For me, it was painful. I thought, shot? He’s wounded?” Imtiaz said. “The detective said he’s deceased. That was the word which was horrible for me.”

The pain didn’t stop there.

“Medical investigator said, gentleman, you will not be able to read the autopsy, it’s such a horrible thing. We couldn’t put his head together,” he said.

 

[scriabina]

Another article
Three of the victims -- Hussain, 27; Aftab Hussein, 41, and Mohammad Ahmadi, 62 -- were all "ambushed with no warning, fired on and killed," said Kyle Hartsock, deputy commander of Albuquerque Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division.

Naeem Hussain, 25, died hours after attending a funeral for two other shooting victims.

The fourth victim -- 25-year-old Naeem Hussain -- was found dead Friday night by Albuquerque police. He became the third Muslim man killed in the city within two weeks and the fourth since November.
......
"My kids do not allow me even to step out of my apartment. They say, 'Dad, it's scary,'" Hussain said just steps from where his brother was gunned down.
"We planted some flowers in our yard, and we haven't even watered them. They said, 'No, somebody might be hiding over there.'"
Hussain had the grim task of identifying his brother's remains at the medical examiner's office. He said his brother's body was mutilated so badly, it was clear the killing was deliberate.
"More than half of his head is gone. ... At the time that I saw the body, he didn't even have half of the face," Hussain said.
"This is not a random killing. This is extremely motivated and extreme hatred."

Article about one of the victims:

"Muhammad was soft-spoken and kind, and quick to laugh," Mayor John Ramon Vigil said in a news release last Wednesday. "He was well-respected and well-liked by his coworkers and members of the community."
Hussain, who had worked for the office for a year, studied law and human resource management at the University of Punjab in Pakistan, the mayor's release said, before receiving both master's and bachelor degrees in community and regional planning from the University of New Mexico.
"Our City staff has lost a member of our family," the mayor's statement said, "and we all have lost a brilliant public servant who wanted to serve and improve his community."

 

[Cryptic]

Those aren’t “standard” Jetta rims on any year I can find, but I can’t figure out if they are some oddball VW rim (as opposed to something aftermarket) because VW does have a handful of those.

Good research.

The totality of your research: Seen on a handful Jettas, but in no where near the numbers for them to be standard....

Could suggest that they are dealer "add on" options. I dont know the real term, but it would include the official decals, spoilers, ground effects and say, "customize your truck with official Ford chrome this and that" options that dealers have on display around the show cars.

If this is correct, a salesperson might remember the customer as perhaps not many people purchase these add ons. They seem way over priced to me. Then again, I am pretty "Plain Jane".

 

[dub]

Good research.

The totality of your research: Seen on a handful Jettas, but in no where near the numbers for them to be standard....

Could suggest that they are dealer "add on" options. I dont know the real term, but it would include the official decals, spoilers, ground effects and say, "customize your truck with official Ford chrome this and that" options that dealers have on display around the show cars.

If this is correct, a salesperson might remember the customer as perhaps not many people purchase these add ons. They seem way over priced to me. Then again, I am pretty "Plain Jane".

I'm pretty sure I found the exact rim online, I can't figure out how to post the picture but the one I'm looking at is in fact a VW rim, but also you can buy them after the fact and they are the cheapest ones I can find. You can get em online for $46 a pop.

This one says it's for model years 2011-2014, which might narrow down the age of this car, although I don't see why you couldn't put it on a 16" wheel on a newer vehicle.

I noticed something more unusual about that Jetta though. As far as I can tell, ALL Jettas from that era (2011-2018) have a standard stubby antenna at the back of the roof of the car. That one doesn't, which suggests it was intentionally removed.

I'm not entirely sure why someone would do that. Maybe to disable the navigation? But most Jettas don't have standard navigation anyway, and I feel like there are easier ways to disable navigation than to take out the antenna and leave a hole on the roof that needs to be patched. Any other ideas?

ETA:

 

[Cryptic]

I'm pretty sure I found the exact rim online, I can't figure out how to post the picture but the one I'm looking at is in fact a VW rim, but also you can buy them after the fact and they are the cheapest ones I can find. You can get em online for $46 a pop.

This one says it's for model years 2011-2014, which might narrow down the age of this car, although I don't see why you couldn't put it on a 16" wheel on a newer vehicle.

Yikes, the availability online- and at low-cost verse dealer only accessory is going to increase the number of possible sources by a lot.

The 16 inch rims implying years 2011 to 2014 might be good though. Decades ago, I worked at a tire garage. Manufactures could change the rim sizes for cars during “make over” years.

Trying to fit an older rim size on the newer model would work sometimes. But on other occasions, the manufacture had changed the design of the wheel well enough to cause the tires to rub on the well during tight turns etc.

So.... probably a 2011 to 2014 Jetta with add on rims available on line.

I wonder if the what, Platinum Metallic Grey color would be a standard color for dealer inventory, or is a special order type color? I am vaguely aware that dealers only stock the most popular colors for display models. If the customer wants an less common color, the dealer needs to special order one in.

 

[dub]

Yikes, the availability online- and at low-cost verse dealer only accessory is going to increase the number of possible sources by a lot.

The 16 inch rims implying years 2011 to 2014 might be good though. Decades ago, I worked at a tire garage. Manufactures could change the rim sizes for cars during “make over” years.

Trying to fit an older rim size on the newer model would work sometimes. But on other occasions, the manufacture had changed the design of the wheel well enough to cause the tires to rub on the well during tight turns etc.

So.... probably a 2011 to 2014 Jetta with add on rims available on line.

I wonder if the what, Platinum Metallic Grey color would be a standard color for dealer inventory, or is a special order type color? I am vaguely aware that dealers only stock the most popular colors for display models. If the customer wants an less common color, the dealer needs to special order one in.

Good info on the rims, for sure.

I’d bet a fair amount that that is a dealer standard color, they are awfully common, but I’m not certain of that.

Either way though I’d also be willing to bet that car was purchased used (for no reason other than they are pretty good cars that can be bought used for cheap—I know because I bought one haha)

Assuming for a second that’s the case, this may or may not have been done through a dealer, but it’s a complicating factor regardless that the rims, and the tint, and (though much less likely) the removal of the antenna may have been done before the car was most recently purchased.

 

[MassGuy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1557075779732881412

 

[MassGuy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1557076119366430721

 

[MAHBOOBOO]

Fox News is reporting that they have made an arrest.

Albuquerque murders: Police nab 'primary suspect' in slayings of 4 Muslim men

Law enforcement in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are investigating the possibility that the ambush killings of four Muslim men since November are connected, police said.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Dotta]

Suspect is arrested for serial killing of FOUR Muslim men

A suspect has been arrested in the serial killing of four Muslim men in Albuquerque over the past nine months, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina announced Tuesday.

www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org