Galilee man goes on murderous rampage, kills 4 before committing suicide

48-year-old man from Dabburiya murders ex-wife, two daughters and a bystander before turning gun on himself.

By BEN HARTMAN
Police generic in english crime scene 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar)
Police generic in english crime scene 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar)
A Galilee man went on a shooting rampage in the village of Daburiya on Sunday morning, killing his ex-wife, two of his daughters and a local man before taking his own life with a gunshot wound to the head, police said.
The man shot and critically wounded another of his daughters, they added.
The murders began a little before 8 a.m., when Bashir Najiar, 48, arrived at a nursing home in the village, where his ex-wife Zahira Jijini worked, and shot the 44-year-old woman dead before gunning down their four-year- old daughter Lama, Northern District Police said.
The man then continued to the offices of the local authority, where he shot his two daughters, aged 15 and 16, who were on their way to school. The 16-year-old Madeline died at the scene, while the other daughter was taken to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, where she remains in critical condition, surrounded by relatives and friends.
The man then went to the house of 55-yearold Abed Alsalam Azaiza, who worked as a maintenance man at the same nursing home as the shooter’s ex-wife. The gunman opened fire at the man at his doorstep, where he was treated by paramedics before dying of his wounds.
His shooting spree complete, the man then drove to an open area outside the village, and shot himself to death in his car, police said.
The pistol that he had in his possession was reportedly stolen.
Magen David Adom paramedic Dudu Fahima said Sunday that when he arrived at the local authority office, the murder scene “was a terrible sight, there was a giant crowd of people who were shocked.”
He said that both daughters were lying unconscious with gunshot wounds to the head.
Fahima said paramedics began taking the two girls to the Emek Medical Center in Afula, but that one died before they reached the facility.
Police said that in May of this year, Zahira issued a police complaint against her ex-husband, saying that he had been following her.