Joshua Boone Attorney Mobile Al – Albuquerque, NM – The suspect in a series of murders that shocked the city’s Muslim community made his first appearance in front of a judge Wednesday and was ordered held pending an upcoming detention hearing.
Muhammad Saeed, 51, continued to appear in court and was said to be charged with the murders of Aftab Hussain, 41, who was killed on July 26, and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, who was killed on August 1.
Joshua Boone Attorney Mobile Al
“The state believes there are no conditions at this time that will protect the public by releasing Mr. Seed,” Bernalillo County District Attorney Joshua Boone told the court.
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Syed heard the proceedings through a Pashto interpreter and asked to go to court first. But he eventually accepted the advice of defense attorney Megan Mitsunaga and Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Judge Renee Torres to remain silent.
“Okay, that sounds good,” Said said. “Yeah, your respect for what you guys see fit sounds good.”
He is also being investigated for possible connection to the recent killings of two other Muslim men in the community, police said.
Hussain was fatally shot at 417 Rhode Island St. The victim “was driving his vehicle” when “the suspect shot Aftab multiple times in the bushes,” according to court documents.
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Muhammad Afzaal Hussain was shot while walking on the sidewalk at 420 and 422 Cornell Dr. Both in what one 911 caller called a shooting, according to the lawsuit.
Police recovered a 9 mm casing from Cornell Drive SE that matched “a 9 mm casing located between the windshield and hood area of Syed’s vehicle,” police said in a criminal complaint.
Albuquerque police and FBI agents “received numerous tips regarding one man, Muhammad Atif Saeed,” according to the court document.
“Broadcasters who called said Muhammad was the shooter in the killing of Muslim men in Albuquerque,” the complaint continued. “Tips also provided a vehicle, a gray Volkswagen sedan, as the vehicle driven by Muhammad.”
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After police took him into custody, Syed told investigators he was going to Houston to find a new place for his family to live because the situation in Albuquerque was bad, the complaint said.
In an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain, the brother of the victim, Muhammad Afzal Hussain, said he did not immediately recognize the suspect’s name.
But when he saw a photo of Syed, his brother realized he had seen him at a local Islamic center in April.
Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain recalled that they spoke briefly during the Eid al-Fitr gathering and during the Ramadan holiday. He recalled that Syed struggled with English and said the suspect did not immediately identify him as a “hostile person.”
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Said seemed like a “family man,” the victim’s brother said, as he appeared to have several children around him.
Alicia Victoria Lozano reports from Albuquerque and David K. Lee and Daniel Arkin of New York.
Alicia Victoria Lozano is a reporter for NBC News in California, focusing on climate change, wildfires and the changing politics of drug laws.
