ISLAMABAD: A woman shot and killed her husband and three daughters and injured her son, before shooting herself with a 30-bore pistol in the family’s home in Sector G-6 on Saturday.

According to police sources, the 35-year-old woman had an ongoing dispute with her 40-year-old husband who was a manager at a petroleum company. The girls who were killed were seven, five and two, while the woman’s ten-year old son survived the shooting.

The boy, who is a student of class-five, told police that his parents had an altercation on Friday night and his father threatened to divorce his mother.

Speaking to media personnel, the boy said that on Saturday morning while the children were having breakfast, their father announced that he planned to take the children to Lake View Park for an outing. His mother began arguing with his father and demanded to join them.

Later, she brought a pistol from a bedroom and first shot her husband and then her four children.

Ten-year old son survives the shooting

“One bullet missed my head and the second hit my hip. I fell down and pretended to be dead. One of my sisters was alive when the gun ran out of bullets,” he said.

“My sister ran into the kitchen and begged my mother to not kill her. My mother reassured her that she won’t kill her and then proceeded to reload the gun. She then went into the kitchen and shot my sister,” the boy said.

He said his mother then began talking to herself, saying that she has nothing left to live for and shot herself.

Inspector General of Police Tahir Alam Khan while talking to media persons said that while police is investigating the matter, it appears to be a family dispute.

Meanwhile Ishaq Khattak, the murdered man’s brother contacted the police to claim the bodies. In his recorded statement, Khattak said he was not aware of any dispute between his brother and his wife.

He said his sister-in-law was a good woman and never spoke to him about any problems with her husband.

The Station House Officer (SHO) Aabpara Police Station Khalid Awan told Dawn that according to neighbours, the deceased family had lived in the rented house for a year and a half. Over the last few months, neighbours had been overhearing loud arguments between the couple, SHO Awan said.

The SHO added that the family were from Karak in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and appeared to be well-off. “A 30-bore pistol was recovered from the scene but no license could be found from the house,” he said.

The dead bodies have been shifted to Karak for burial.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2015

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