(AP) Fear coursed through the Muslim community in New Mexico’s largest city over several days in the summer of 2022 as authorities scrambled to determine if race or religion might have been behind the ambush-style killings of three men from the community.
It was not long before the investigation shifted away from possible hate crimes to what prosecutors on Tuesday described as the “willful and very deliberate” actions of another member of the Muslim community — Muhammad Syed, an Afghan refugee.
Prosecutors delivered opening statements in what is the first trial for Syed, 53, who settled in the U.S. several years ago with his family.
