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Hours before the arrest was announced, CNN was allowed into Syed’s home and spoke with his daughter while the family was still cleaning up after investigators, she said, executed a search warrant the night before. The carpets in the living room were messy and the contents of the drawers were messy. The flag of Afghanistan – where Syed and his family moved from several years ago – hung prominently in the living room.
At the home, authorities found firearms as well as information indicating Syed may have known the victims “to some extent” and an interpersonal conflict may have led to the killings, police said Tuesday.
One of the firearms found in his home was linked to shell casings found at the scenes of two of the murders, while shell casings from a gun found in his car when he was pulled over were linked to one of the scenes, according to the arrest affidavit .
Police are yet to establish a motive for the murder, they said.
Syed denied involvement in the killings during an interview with police Tuesday, according to the arrest affidavit.
The daughter’s husband was friends with two of the slain men, Aftab Hussain and Naeem Hussain, she told CNN, which chose not to name her out of concern for her safety. Her father was not happy when she got married in February 2018, but had come to accept the union sooner, she said.
The woman, one of Syed’s six children, said her father was home at the time of the shooting but could offer no evidence.
“My father is not a person who can kill somebody. My father always talked about peace. That’s why we are here in the United States. We came from Afghanistan, from fighting, from shooting,” she told CNN.
Syed left his home in his car Monday night, telling his family he was going to Texas to find a place for them, fearing the recent shootings in the Muslim community, his daughter said.
Authorities, acting on a tip from the public, were preparing to execute a search warrant at Syed’s home Monday night when they saw him get into his car and follow him, said the deputy commander of the Albuquerque Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division. Kyle Hartsock at a press conference on Tuesday.
Syed was stopped and taken into custody near Santa Rosa, New Mexico, about 120 miles east of Albuquerque and roughly halfway to the Texas border.
Meanwhile, police executed a search warrant at Syed’s home and found multiple firearms, Hartsock said.
Officials plan to charge Syed with two murders — the slayings of Aftab Hussain and Muhammad Afzal Hussain — they said, and are working with the district attorney on potential charges in the Aug. 5 slaying of Naeem Hussain and the November slaying of Mohammad Zaher Ahmadi, Hartsock said.
There is evidence “strong enough that” authorities continue to view Syed as “the most likely person of interest or suspect” in those killings as well, Hartsock said.
The family has been in the U.S. for about six years, the daughter said.
Hartsock confirmed that Syed was from Afghanistan, saying he had “several minor felony arrests (from the Albuquerque Police Department) for domestic violence” over the past few years and some other incidents, adding, “That’s the only story we know of. with him locally.”
All three previous domestic violence charges Syed faced were dismissed, Hartsock said.
Aftab Hussain was found on July 26 with multiple gunshot wounds lying next to a car, according to police. Detectives learned the shooter waited behind a bush near the driveway where the victim usually parks his vehicle, then fired through the bush several times when Hussain got out of his vehicle, according to the complaint.
On Aug. 1, police received a call about a drive-by shooting and found Muhammad Afzal Hussain with multiple gunshot wounds, the complaint states.
Ashley Killough and Ed Lavandera reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Christina McSouris wrote from Atlanta.
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