Testimony in Syed trial centers on firearms

Defense attorneys pressed their theory Wednesday that police focused on Muhammad Syed and failed to investigate other members of his family in a 2022 shooting death.

Syed, 53, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of three Muslim men in July and August 2022.

The killings stoked fears in the Albuquerque Muslim community that a serial killer was targeting Islamic men and garnered national media attention.

Testimony began this week in Syed’s trial on a single count of first-degree murder in the killing of 41-year-old Aftab Hussein on July 26, 2022.

The 2nd Judicial District Court trial is scheduled to continue through March 21 before Judge Britt Baca-Miller.

Syed also faces two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of tampering with evidence in the shooting deaths of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, on Aug. 1, 2022, and Naeem Hussein, 25, on Aug. 5, 2022. Syed faces separate trials for each of those killings.

Prosecutors allege that Syed hid in bushes outside Aftab Hussein’s home and fired at least nine gunshots from a high-powered AK-47 rifle, killing Hussein moments after he arrived home around 10 p.m. that evening.

Syed’s attorneys contend that at least four other adults in Syed’s household had access to firearms and could have fired those shots.

Syed’s attorneys showed jurors on Wednesday a photo that appears to show a woman firing an AK-47 rifle out the window of a car.

Leah Wise, an Albuquerque Police Department homicide detective, said she recognized the image as one extracted from Syed’s cellphone. But under questioning by Thomas Clark, Syed’s attorney, Wise acknowledged that she didn’t know who was holding the rifle.

“This photograph is of a subject holding what appears to be a rifle out of a window,” Wise told jurors. “I can’t determine what is going on in this photo.”

Testimony also focused on firearms seized at Syed’s home following his arrest. Syed was arrested on Aug. 9, 2022, driving a Volkswagen Jetta east on Interstate 40 toward Texas.

Wise testified that police obtained security video of Syed and his son, Shaheen Syed, purchasing two military-style firearms on July 15, 2022, at an Albuquerque gun store.

Prosecutors allege that just 11 days after the purchase, Syed used one of those firearms, a Zastava 7.62-caliber rifle, to fatally shoot Aftab Hussein.

The rifle was found in Syed’s bedroom, under his bed, when law enforcement searched the family’s home, Wise told jurors.

Prosecutors allege that ballistics tests show that 7.62-caliber shell casings and projectiles found at the scene of Hussein’s killing were fired by the rifle found in Syed’s bedroom.

Under questioning by defense attorneys, Wise acknowledged that investigators did not request DNA or fingerprint analysis of the rifle.

Shaheen Syed, 22, was arrested on the same day as his father. The younger Syed is not charged with any of the killings but has pleaded guilty to federal firearms charges for providing false information when he purchased a firearm in 2021.