On August 1, 2022, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, a 27-year-old man originally from Pakistan, was fatally shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The incident occurred in the evening, specifically around 9:27 p.m., when officers arrived at the scene to find Hussain dead from multiple gunshot wounds. The shooting took place near his apartment located at 402 Cornell Drive SE in Albuquerque's International District.
Investigations revealed that Muhammad Afzaal Hussain and his family routinely took walks
around the neighborhood from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. On the night of the shooting, his brother saw him using his cell phone as he left the apartment. A friend of Hussain's reported that they were speaking over FaceTime around 8:35 p.m. when Hussain received another call and had to answer it. This was the last known communication before the shooting.
The investigation into Hussain's murder led police to discover several key pieces of evidence. A witness across the street reported seeing a dark silver or grey four-door sedan pull up to the east side of 422 Cornell Dr. SE and flee the area after the gunshots stopped. This description would later become crucial in identifying the suspect. Additionally, investigators found seven 9mm casings and seven 7.62x39 casings at the scene, which were later linked to other shootings through a National Integrated Ballistics Information Network review. This review determined that the 7.62x39 casings were fired from the same gun used in another murder, that of Aftab Hussein, which occurred on July 26, 2022.
The suspect in Muhammad Afzaal Hussain's murder, along with the other three Muslim men killed in Albuquerque, was identified as Muhammad Atif Syed, a 51-year-old man originally from Afghanistan. Syed was linked to the crimes through a combination of surveillance video, tips from the public, and ballistic evidence. On August 9, 2022, detectives arrested Syed after identifying him as the owner of a gray Volkswagen Jetta, a vehicle that matched the description of the car seen fleeing the scene of Hussain's murder. The gun used in the shootings was discovered during a search of Syed's home.
Syed was charged with three counts of First Degree Murder and four counts of Tampering with Evidence for the murders of Aftab Hussein, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, and Naeem Hussain. He was also considered the prime suspect in the fourth murder, which occurred on November 7, 2021. The motive behind the shootings remained unclear, with no indications that the murders were carried out by a serial killer or as a result of a hate crime.
In 2024, Syed pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in the killings of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain and Naeem Hussain, in addition to his earlier conviction for the first-degree murder of Aftab Hussein. Syed faces a total of 30 years in prison for the second-degree murders, to be served concurrently with his sentence for the first-degree murder conviction, which carries a minimum of 30 years before being eligible for parole. Despite the conviction, the exact motive behind Syed's actions remains unknown, leaving the families of the victims with unanswered questions about why their loved ones were targeted.
