ALBUQUERQUE, NM — An Afghan refugee who convicted earlier this year of first-degree murder in one of three deadly shootings that shocked Albuquerque’s Muslim community, has reached a plea agreement that resolves criminal charges in the other two killings.
Muhammad Syed’s attorneys confirmed Thursday that the agreement will be considered by a state district judge at a hearing Tuesday. Details of the agreement were not made public.
Syed already faces life in prison for the July 2022 murder of 41-year-old Aftab Hussein. He was scheduled to stand trial in the second case on Tuesday, but those proceedings were canceled amid debate over changing his plea.
The three ambush-style killings occurred over the course of several days, sending authorities scrambling to determine whether race or religion was behind the crimes. It wasn’t long before the investigation shifted from possible hate crimes to what prosecutors described to jurors during the first trial as the “deliberate and very deliberate” actions of another member of the Muslim community.
Prosecutors described Syed as someone who a violent history. His public defenders had argued that previous allegations of domestic violence had never resulted in convictions.
The initial trial yielded little information about motive, leaving the victims’ families hoping that subsequent trials would shed more light on why the men were targeted.
Other victims included Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, a 27-year-old urban planner who was shot dead on August 1, 2022 while taking an evening stroll, and Naeem Hussain, who was shot four days later as he sat in his car outside a refugee shelter in the south of the city.
With the conviction in Aftab Hussein’s case, Syed will serve at least 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.