SANTA FE: Police in New Mexico and federal agencies were probing murders of four Muslim men to determine if killings, latest of which happened on Friday evening, were linked while state’s governor described them as “targeted killings.”

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina told reporters that a “young man who is part of Muslim community was murdered.”

Two of those murdered men were members of same masjid, who were shot dead in Albuquerque in late July and early August. Police said there was a “strong possibility” their deaths were connected to November killing of an Afghan immigrant. Muhammad Afzaal Hussain 27 a planning director for city of Espanola who came to United States from Pakistan, was shot dead outside his Albuquerque apartment complex while Aftab Hussein 41 was found dead of gunshot wounds on July 26 near the Albuquerque’s international district.

Those deaths are likely linked to shooting of 62-year-old Muhammad Ahmadi in a parking lot by a halal supermarket and cafe on November 7 last year, police said.

New Mexico State Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation and US Marshals Service are among several agencies involved in probing murders.

Victim’s name and circumstances of murder were not disclosed. In previous three cases, victims were ambushed and shot without warning, police said. Medina said killing was possibly linked to previous three murders.

“Targeted killings of Muslim residents of Albuquerque is deeply angering and wholly intolerable,” New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham tweeted. She also said she was deploying extra state police officers to Albuquerque to assist in investigation.–Agencies

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 07 2022

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