The murders of two Muslim men in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the last week have been linked to the November killing of a third Muslim man, leading police to believe a serial killer is targeting people based on their race and/or ethnicity, Reuters reports.
Twenty-seven-year-old Pakistani Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, a city planner for the neighboring town of Española, was shot and killed outside his Albuquerque apartment Monday. That killing was immediately linked to the shooting death of Aftab Hussein, 41, a member of Albuquerque’s Afghan community. Both men were ambushed outside their residences and shot without warning.
Police were able to connect the two men’s murders to the November shooting death of 62-year-old Mohammad Ahmadi outside a halal market and cafe in the city. Two of the men were members of the same mosque, police say, although they would not specify which mosque and which two. Albuquerque and New Mexico police are working with federal agencies including the FBI on the presumed hate crimes.