US police on Tuesday August 9 announced the arrest of the “prime suspect” in the joint investigation into the murders of four Muslim men. Authorities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said Saturday they are investigating a possible link between the murder of three Muslims in recent weeks and another in November 2021, and on Sunday launched a witness appeal using a car photo. “We have located the vehicle believed to be involved in the recent murder of a Muslim man in Albuquerque. The driver has been arrested and is our prime suspect in the killings,” local police chief Harold Medina tweeted.
Albuquerque police found the body of a young man in his 20s, a Muslim and “originally from South Asia,” Friday night. “Investigators believe this killing may be linked to three recent killings of Muslim men, including those from South Asia,” police said at the time. Two of those victims were from Pakistan: a 27-year-old man found dead on August 1 and a 41-year-old man whose body was found on July 26. Police also linked the death of a man from Afghanistan, who was killed on November 7, 2021, in this city of half a million people.
On Sunday, US President Joe Biden tweeted “angry and saddened” by the killings. “We are awaiting the results of a thorough investigation, but I pray for the families of the victims,” he said, assuring that “these hateful attacks had no place in America.”