A man whose wife and daughter were moving away from the Roslyn Heights home where they had been living apart from him for the past year shot them and his mother-in-law Friday before turning the gun on himself, Nassau police said, in a bloodbath that rocked a quiet neighborhood.
The man's estranged wife was the sole survivor of the shotgun blasts that took her daughter and mother, then the man himself, police said.
The angry husband and father was named Mohamed Shojaeifard, 49 years old. He shot and killed his mother in-law, Batool Biraman, 66, his daughter, Mandana Shojaeifard, 17, and seriously wounded his estranged wife, Haleh Mohseni, 40, before turning the gun on himself.
For me the only thing worse than this is when the guy kills his wife and only wounds himself. That happens every once in a while. But, what you almost never hear is the wife and mother killing her entire family with a gun. I know Andrea Yates used another means, but even so, it's rather rare. Mr. Shojaeifard provides us with yet another illustration of my ever popular theory that guns are bad news for women.
What's your opinion? Does the fact that he used a shotgun mean there's nothing we could have done to prevent this? After all, shotguns are as American as apple pie; not even the most fanatical gun control proponent talks about banning them.
The assault-style shotgun used in the attack is marketed for self-defense. Nassau County does not require registration of such weapons. The gun found in Shojaeifard's car was a traditional shotgun with a stock.
Some of my critics might be surprised that I actually agree it's not just about the gun. More than the particular weapon used, I think it's the mindset which says if you've got a problem, blasting away with a gun is a viable option. We see it all the time with young people. Do you think the attitude of legitimate gun owners feeds into this in some way? Don't they have a similar attitude? If someone steps out of line too far, in the judgment of the gun owner, blasting away with a gun is a viable option.
The problem with that is, number one, many legitimate gun owners are not qualified to make such life and death judgments, and number two, the general attitude of fixing a sticky situation with bullets knows no boundaries; it permeates the world of legal gun owners as well as that of the criminals as well as that of the unbalanced like Shojaeifard.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
