Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain was scared as he stepped outside his house in Albuquerque to water his plants. Or get books from his car. Or even venture out onto your own balcony.
“My kids won’t let me out of my apartment,” said Hussain, 41, whose brother Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, was shot dead a week ago, just a few blocks away. He is one of the four Muslim men people have been killed recently in the city – three in the past two weeks – and authorities believe the deaths are related to and aimed at the Muslim community.
The latest victim, a Muslim man in his 20s from South Asia whose name has not been released by police, was killed on Friday just before midnight. Another man, Aftab Hussein, 41, was shot dead on July 26. Authorities say the killing of all three may be related to the killing of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, in November 2021. , outside of a business he and his brother run.
As Albuquerque Police, the FBI and State Police appealed to the public for help in finding the perpetrator or killers – on Sunday, authorities described a vehicle of interest, a sedan four-door Volkswagen dark color – the attacks have put the Muslims in a state of terror.
One member who attended the New Mexico Islamic Center, the same mosque as all four victims, said he may never return, citing fear of being “baited”.
Other members have temporarily left the state to stay with family members in other parts of the country pending investigation. An immigrant man from Iraq said he felt safer when he first came to the country in the 1980s. Another member, Salem Ansari, said that some people go to mosques and work shifts. night quit.
“The situation is getting a lot worse,” Mr. Ansari said.
Ahmad Assed, the mosque’s president, says he grew up in Albuquerque attending the Islamic Center but has never felt isolated as a Muslim in the city. But now, he said, the community is experiencing a “managed panic.”
Elder Hussain says he has lived safely in his neighborhood for eight years since moving to the United States with his wife and children. His brother Muhammad arrived in 2017 and both men would go to the library in the middle of the night or buy coffee in the evening while attending the University of New Mexico as international students.
“Now, I look out the window and think, ‘Oh, this is where my brother was killed. Should we move? ”
Mr. Hussain said he initially hoped to have his brother’s body returned to be buried with his family in Pakistan, but the numerous gunshot wounds made his brother unrecognizable, and Mr. Hussain did not want to. family saw him. The killer “wants to finish him off – the whole nine yards,” he said.
Overall, anti-Muslim hate crimes in the United States are on a downward trend. Brian Levin, a professor of criminal justice at California State University in San Bernardino and director of the school’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, said the number of hate crimes reported against Muslims in 2020 is lower than any year since 9/11, though he added that those numbers could be skewed because of pandemic restrictions.
But he said that hate crimes are still a concern: They increased by more than 20% in 2021 and increased by 4.7% in the first half of 2022, the center reported. According to Professor Levin’s research, “fundamental anti-Muslim attitudes” are spreading and re-emerging in difficult times for the nation.
Authorities say they are restricting the use of the term “hate” in labeling crimes until a motive can be determined.
Just last year, the Islamic Center faced an attempted arson attack from a woman who police say set three fires on the mosque’s playground and one at the entrance to the mosque. into the main of the mosque. No one was injured, and the woman was arrested and charged with arson. The case is pending.
Assed said, the Islamic Center has instructed its nearly 2,500 members to stay home as much as possible, use a “buddy system” when going out and refrain from “joining or inciting” anyone.
He added that he still feels supported by other communities but this time he is also feeling “hopeless and hopeless”.
“I watched my back and got in the car. I am observing everything around me,” he said. “You don’t know if they’re tracking you from the mosque, or if they’re actually tracking people going in and out of the church and tracking them elsewhere. Pattern is undefined. “
Some community members have expressed frustration at the lack of details from the police investigation, but Mr Assed said he has been in contact with authorities and understands why they are keeping it private. any developments. Authorities did not explain why they believed the killings were related nor did they say whether there were any witnesses.
Mr. Hussain said he wants federal and state governments to pour as many resources as possible into catching the killer.
But until someone is caught, nothing can alleviate his fear – or pain.
“My 5-year-old keeps asking, ‘Hey, where’s your uncle?’ ‘, I said. “She would see me cry and say, ‘Are you a crybaby? Why are you crying?’ But we can’t tell her. Not yet.”
