Five-year-old allegedly shot by her father dies, siblings in critical condition

AMMAN — A five-year-old girl, who was reportedly shot by her father who committed suicide late Sunday night, died at dawn on Monday, official sources said.

The child, her mother and two siblings, aged 13 and 8, were reportedly shot by their 42-year-old father while at his in-laws' home in Rujm Al Shami area in south Amman.

The 32-year-old mother died in the shooting incident, while her two children were listed in critical condition, a senior official source said.

“The couple was going through marital problems, and the woman returned to her family’s home and wanted a divorce,” a senior judicial source close to the investigations said.

On Sunday night, the source maintained, the husband went to his in-laws house “claiming that he wanted to grant his wife a divorce and wanted her to give him the family book”.

“The husband took the family book from his wife then grabbed a gun and shot her once in the chest because she insisted on the divorce,” the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

The husband then reportedly chased his children and “shot them at close range in the head and face then placed the gun in his mouth and shot himself,” the judicial source maintained.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Issam Haddidi, who inspected the scene, ordered that blood, tissue and other samples be sent to the crime lab for further testing, the judicial source said.

“Foul play is ruled out based on initial questioning of the in-laws that were in the house. A crime lab report will help Haddidi in the case,” the judicial source added.

Sunday’s shooting incident occurred almost 12 hours after a 63-year-old man reportedly shot his 57-year-old wife, who had cancer, and then turned the gun on himself in the capital’s Hai Nazzal suburb. 

Police found a note next to the couple “believed to be written by the husband, addressed to his son and daughter, in which he said he committed this act of his own free will and asked them not to hold an aza [mourning ceremony]”.

In their initial testimony to Haddidi, the victims’ relatives said the woman “had been treated for cancer for the past few years and had a few months to live”.

The husband, “was suffering from mental problems and there was a record of him being treated at hospitals for epilepsy”, according to the relatives.

“Everyone testified that the couple, who were cousins, enjoyed a good marital relationship and that the husband was taking care of his sick wife, who was almost paralysed.”