PORTLAND, Ore. — A dreamer who had a passion to build a new life is how Ahmed Alzubidi remembers his friend, Dhulfiqar Mseer. Mseer, a 23-year-old refugee from Iraq, was shot and killed in Northeast Portland in December 2020.
"We lost a good guy," Alzubidi said. "He was helping a lot of people and he was so close to starting a new family."
Mseer's life was cut short on the night of Dec. 11. Authorities say Mseer was working as an Uber driver. He pulled up to Northeast 11th and Stafford to pick up a rider, and according to the FBI, Mseer was shot by multiple people who fired approximately 70 rounds.
"An excessive number of rounds," said Beth Anne Steele of the FBI. "Certainly not what we want to see on the streets of Portland or anywhere in Oregon."
Steele says Mseer was either an unintended target or a mistaken target. He died at the hospital several days after the shooting. Law enforcement has linked the shooting that killed Mseer to other gang-related shootings in the area.
"Those guns are traveling," Steele said. "They're moving from person to person and shooter to shooter, and we're tracking those guns to the best of our ability and working with the ATF and our local partners to do that."
The FBI is now offering a $15,000 reward for information about Mseer's murder.
"I'm not optimistic," Alzubidi said.
Alzubidi is skeptical that reward money will lead to justice, but he and Mseer's family hope it does.
"Dhulfiqar's killing is a loss to us all," the family said in a statement. "We lost a brother, a son, a bread winner, a husband, and the world lost a good and decent man who always put the needs of others first. We can't rest knowing his killer has not yet faced the justice they deserve."
Authorities say the people involved in the deadly shooting got into two cars after opening fire. One of the vehicles is a Volkswagen Eos.
Anyone with information about the crime is urged to come forward. A $15,000 reward from the FBI is available. Crime Stoppers of Oregon is also offering a reward of up to $2,500.
The sizeable reward from the FBI is the third offered by the agency on behalf of the Metro Safe Streets Task Force. The FBI has also offered rewards for information about the murders of Makayla Harris and Evelin Navarro-Barajas.