The Reporter's Notebook, Ep. 30: Albuquerque's Muslim Community Heals
Muslims embrace after a Friday prayer service at the Islamic Center of New Mexico on Aug. 12, 2022. Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, who was murdered, attended this mosque in Albuquerque. (Omar Ornelas / El Paso Times)
In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Justin Garcia, who covers public safety for the Las Cruces Sun-News. Justin recently traveled to Albuquerque in the wake of the killings of several Muslim men — which set the entire community on edge. Muslims in Albuquerque were fearful of an Islamophobic serial killer after four people were murdered over the span of several months.
But the reality of what happened was much more complicated and much harder to comprehend. On Aug. 9, police arrested 51-year-old Muhammed Syed, a Muslim and known community member. Syed was charged in two of the killings, and authorities say they are continuing to gather evidence to charge him in the other two.
Theories abound about the alleged killer’s motivations; none have yet been confirmed. The married father of six has denied involvement in the killings.
Albuquerque police say "an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings" and said the suspect appeared to know several of the victims. Authorities were examining whether he may have been motivated by religious zeal — such as the political and religious divides between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that underlie modern conflict in the Middle East, but those in the community have rejected such divides and refuse to be defined by them.
Now, the community is working to move forward, both with grieving over the deaths and processing how a member of their community could have done this.
Justin was kind enough to join us this week to discuss what he learned during his time in Albuquerque.
The podcast was originally published by the Las Cruces Sun-News.
