Tinley Park shooting: Maher Kassem, Chicago area, Illinois husband and wife shoots dead his wife and three out of his five daughters dead in domestic violence incident. Suspect calls 911 to report crime before surrendering to authorities.
A father of five allegedly shot his wife and three adult daughters to death inside the family’s Chicago area home Sunday morning.
The four women were mortally wounded in what officials described as a ‘domestic-related shooting’ inside a home on 173rd Street in Tinley Park just before 11:30 a.m., ABC 7 Chicago reported.
A man inside the home, believed to the husband and father reportedly called 911 to report the slayings and was taken into custody, according to WGN News.
Tinley Park dad blames money problems for killing wife & daughters
‘They had very high goals in life’
‘A male subject said his wife was shot. The line disconnected. He wasn’t really cooperative,’ the dispatcher said.
The dispatcher later called the scene ‘a massacre’ when requesting more units.
When officers arrived, they found the bodies of the four women identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner as Majeda Kassem, 59; twins, Halema Kassem, 25; and Zahia Kassem, 25; and Hanan Kassem, 24. Each had suffered gunshot wounds, FOX32 reported.
Social media identified the gunman as husband and father, Maher Kassem, 63.
A neighbor who knew the family — made up of the husband and wife, the three adult daughters, and two grown sons — said they were ‘such a good family that had a bright future.’
‘My daughter knows them,’ Charlotte Vaitkus told ABC 7. ‘She went to school with the oldest son, and she employed the twin sisters. She always talked about how they were all very intelligent, and they had very high goals in life.’
No known motive
Some of the children had dreams of becoming a pharmacist or a doctor, she added.
There were no prior law enforcement calls to the home, Village Manager Patt Carr said.
The murders were the deadliest incident to hit Tinley Park, a village southwest of Chicago, in nearly two decades.
But Car stressed that there was no threat to the public.
‘This was isolated to the home,’ he told reporters at a press conference on the shooting. ‘The scene is secure. There is only one suspect at this time.’
Authorities have yet to disclose a murder motive.
