Posted on 08/05/2022 12:33:26 PM PDT by CedarDave
Over the past nine months, police say, three Muslim men were shot to death — without warning — around the city.And now investigators are saying they believe there is a strong possibility the same person — or persons — is responsible.
“While we won’t go into all the specifics of why we think that, there’s one strong commonality in all victims: the race and religion,” said Deputy Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock at a news conference in front of the Islamic Center of New Mexico Thursday morning. “We are taking this very seriously. We want the public’s help in identifying this cowardly individual.”
Hartsock, with the Albuquerque Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division, said he couldn’t release more information on the investigation without compromising it.
The most recent homicide — that of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27 — galvanized a community that remembered him as a vibrant student leader, dedicated planning and land use director for the city of Española and field organizer with Melanie Stansbury campaign for congress.
The shooting came six days after another man, 41-year-old Aftab Hussein, was killed in his apartment complex parking lot less than five miles away. The first shooting, that of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, happened last November behind the Ariana Halal Market & Cafe he owned with his brother.
Since detectives believe the victims were ambushed, Hartsock said that would “generally tell us this person has been lying in wait.” However, he said they can’t say yet if the shootings were hate crimes.
“We’ve reached out to the FBI immediately and they’ve already committed to give what resources they can,” Hartsock said.
He said in cases like this it’s almost always the public who helps investigators identify a suspect.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
Copycat killings. Jo Jo started a trend when he took out Al Zawahiri who was just standing on his balcony barbequing some Almost Meat Burgers.
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