The suspect is a Sunni Muslim man who was believed to have been angry that his daughter was marrying a Shiite.
After it was reported that four Muslim men were slain in Albuquerque, N.M. over the course of a few weeks, certain progressive media outlets and activist groups were quick to portray the murders as racially motivated attacks on the Southeast Asian community despite the lack of any information regarding the identity and motivation of the perpetrator.
On Tuesday, police identified the suspect as another Muslim man, who is believed to have been motivated by intra-Islamic sectarian hatred. Police detained 51-year-old Muhammad Syed, an Afghan Muslim migrant, and charged him with the murder of Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain. Syed is reportedly Sunni Muslim and killed the men in anger over his daughter marrying a Shiite Muslim. Police believe he could be culpable for a string of homicides in the city over the past few months.
Despite the perpetrator’s background, Occupy Democrats tweeted a statement implying that the killings were committed by an outside actor rather than a member of the Muslim community: “BREAKING: Police detain a suspect in the serial killing of four Muslim men in Albuquerque, New Mexico — all four victims were of South Asian descent in addition to sharing a religion, leading to hate crime speculation. RT IF YOU STAND WITH THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY!”
The New York Times published a piece that framed the incidents as “targeting Muslims” and suggested the attacks were influenced by xenophobia. The article noted that Albuquerque became an “immigrant friendly” city after the Trump administration’s border-control rhetoric fueled concerns of “bigotry directed against Muslims.”
“The possibility that someone could now be targeting Muslims, in a city already reeling from a harrowing spike in murders, has many in Albuquerque asking how this could happen,” it read.
CNN included in its coverage Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller’s claim that “the Muslim community is living in fear due to the killings,” speaking as though the attacks came from outside the Muslim community.
“We have heard from the community that the fear is so strong, there is a concern about even things like groceries and getting meals for certain folks in certain areas of town,” Keller said.
NBC News also treated the attacks as if a non-Muslim killer had a racially inspired vendetta against the minority group, ignoring the possibility that the killings resulted from a dispute within the fractious Islamic community.
“The spate of murders across the Albuquerque area has stunned the city and shaken the small, close-knit Muslim community, fueling fears of a racist serial killer on the loose,” the NBC reporter wrote. NBC interviewed a halal market owner and claimed he said that “Muslim people in the area appear to be too frightened to go outside for fear of being senselessly gunned down.”
The Guardian echoed the other publications, giving credence to the theory that a Muslim-hating serial killer was on the loose.
“The brutal murders in Albuquerque have prompted national outcry. Government officials from the New Mexico governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, to Joe Biden have offered swift condemnation of the crimes and prayers as law enforcement raised the possibility that a serial killer is at work targeting members of the Muslim community,” the outlet said.
The tenor of the media coverage may have had an impact on the Albequerque Muslim community’s behavior. Speaking to the Guardian, Council on American Islamic Relations executive director Nihad Awad said that families who used to visit the Islamic Center of New Mexico are now staying inside their homes out of fear that they could be killed next. Awad also said that refugee and immigrant Muslims in the city are potentially easy targets because they wear cultural garb such as kaftans, burqas or shalwars that signify they are Muslim.
“In New Mexico, hate crimes targeting race and religion have the highest number of victims among other kinds of hate crimes reported in the state,” the Guardian article read.
Some popular culture and sports figures also chimed in with the assumption that right-wing white extremism may have played a role.
American martial artist Isaac Vallie-Flagg made the snide remark, “4 Muslim men have been killed (likely by the same person) in Albuquerque in a 9 month span. Glad the rhetoric from the far right isn’t dangerous though.”
Progressive journalist CJ Werleman tweeted, “Muslims, particularly Pakistani Muslims, are being targeted for assassination in New Mexico. The perpetrator is most likely a white supremacist but would not be surprised if we learn he/she is a Hindu nationalist.”