New Mexico police probe killings of 4 Muslim males, Biden condemns ‘hateful assaults’

New Mexico police probe killings of 4 Muslim men, Biden condemns 'hateful attacks'

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Police in New Mexico on Sunday requested for the general public’s assist in finding a “automobile of curiosity” of their probe of 4 deadly shootings of Muslim males whose slayings in Albuquerque over the previous 9 months are believed by investigators to be associated.

Mayor Tim Keller stated state authorities have been working to offer an “further police presence at mosques throughout instances of prayer” because the investigation proceeds in New Mexico’s largest metropolis, house to as many as 5,000 Muslims out of some 565,000 whole residents.

The newest sufferer, police stated, was gunned down on Friday night time, in a killing that native Islamic leaders stated occurred shortly after he had attended funeral providers for 2 others slain in the course of the previous couple of weeks.

All three of these males, in addition to the very first sufferer who was shot useless in November, have been Muslim males of Pakistani or Afghan descent who resided in Albuquerque.

Police have given few particulars of the most recent homicide however described the primary three killings as ambush shootings. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has characterised them as “focused killings of Muslim residents.”

U.S. President Joe Biden posted a message on Twitter on Sunday expressing solidarity with the Muslim group, including, “These hateful assault don’t have any place in America.”

Albuquerque police officers instructed a information convention hours later that they have been following quite a few leads and issued a bulletin with photographs of a four-door, darkish gray Volkswagen sedan with tinted home windows that they described as a “automobile of curiosity” within the investigation.

A number of police businesses investigating

It was left unclear how the automotive was tied to the case, and police stated they’d but to find out whether or not they have been looking for a number of suspects within the investigation.

The three newest victims belonged to the identical mosque, in response to Tahir Gauba, a spokesperson for the Islamic Middle of New Mexico. Officers have been withholding the id of the person killed on Friday pending notification of subsequent of kin.

However Gauba stated he was killed shortly after attending the funeral for the 2 earlier victims.

A bearded man in a suit and tie speaks at a podium.
Ahmad Assed, president of the Islamic Middle of New Mexico, speaks throughout a information convention in Albuquerque on Saturday, hours after the killing of one other Muslim sufferer. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal/The Related Press)

Muhammed Afzaal Hussain, 27, a planning director for town of Espanola, N.M., who immigrated from Pakistan, was shot useless on Aug. 1 exterior his condominium complicated, lower than per week after Aftab Hussein, 41, from Albuquerque’s massive Afghan group, was discovered slain on July 26 close to town’s worldwide district, police stated. Hussain had as soon as labored on the marketing campaign workforce for Melanie Stansbury, U.S. congresswoman from New Mexico.

Police have stated they’re treating the 2 slayings, together with Friday’s killing, as linked to the Nov. 7 homicide of 62-year-old Mohammad Ahmadi, additionally a Muslim from Afghanistan, who was shot to demise in a car parking zone exterior a halal grocery store and cafe.

“There are a number of issues in frequent with all 4 of the homicides,” metropolis police spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos instructed reporters on Sunday.

Requested whether or not investigators take into account the killings to be hate crimes, Gallegos stated, “Hate is set by motive, and we do not know that motive at this level.”

Gauba estimated there are 3,000 to five,000 Muslims dwelling in and round Albuquerque, accounting for about 85 per cent of the whole state’s Islamic inhabitants.

New Mexico State Police, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service are among the many businesses helping within the investigation.



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