ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A man was arrested in Erbil province’s Koya town on Wednesday for allegedly fatally shooting his wife and two daughters, with authorities once again labeling the incident as a crime carried out over a “social dispute.”
The incident occurred at 11:00am near a school in the town and led to the deaths of the suspect’s wife, 63, two daughters, 31 and 18, and a neighbor, 55. The suspect’s son also sustained injuries, Koya police told Rudaw.
Sherwan Jalal, deputy director general of Koya’s health department, attributed the killings to a “social dispute.”
“It took several minutes for the killer to be arrested because he was alone in his house and had locked the door on himself,” Koya police chief Ali Abdullah said following the shooting, adding that they were able to arrest the suspect after multiple confrontations.
Suspects in such crimes are often arrested and undergo investigation. However, the investigations usually yield little to no result.
Minor family disputes can rapidly escalate into violent altercations, leading to shootings and murders across the Kurdistan Region where gun violence remains rife.
An estimated 70 percent of people in the Kurdistan Region own weapons.
In June 2022, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani ordered the shutdown of all firearms-selling markets and the confiscation of unlicensed weapons, in light of the killing of two university academics by a former student days prior.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has struggled to bring gun ownership under control and to decrease the number of privately-owned weapons. Firearms, including sniper rifles and machine guns, can be purchased on the black market.
The incident occurred at 11:00am near a school in the town and led to the deaths of the suspect’s wife, 63, two daughters, 31 and 18, and a neighbor, 55. The suspect’s son also sustained injuries, Koya police told Rudaw.
Sherwan Jalal, deputy director general of Koya’s health department, attributed the killings to a “social dispute.”
“It took several minutes for the killer to be arrested because he was alone in his house and had locked the door on himself,” Koya police chief Ali Abdullah said following the shooting, adding that they were able to arrest the suspect after multiple confrontations.
Suspects in such crimes are often arrested and undergo investigation. However, the investigations usually yield little to no result.
Minor family disputes can rapidly escalate into violent altercations, leading to shootings and murders across the Kurdistan Region where gun violence remains rife.
An estimated 70 percent of people in the Kurdistan Region own weapons.
In June 2022, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani ordered the shutdown of all firearms-selling markets and the confiscation of unlicensed weapons, in light of the killing of two university academics by a former student days prior.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has struggled to bring gun ownership under control and to decrease the number of privately-owned weapons. Firearms, including sniper rifles and machine guns, can be purchased on the black market.
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