A crazed upstate New York husband returned home and killed his wife and two young children an hour after shooting a store owner, according to prosecutors.
It is alleged that Saleh Q. Muhammad, 29, began the Buffalo killings by shooting deli owner Shukri Muthana, 43, in the chest about 2:30 p.m. Monday. KBKW reported.
While cops were investigating, calls came in an hour later about a shooting at Muhammad’s home in Cheektowaga — where a neighbor reported hearing gunshots and “screaming.” WGRZ reported.
There, officers found the bodies of the accused killer’s wife, 26-year-old Aisha Abdullah, and their two sons, ages 4 and 3. All three were shot.
A neighbor who lives two houses away said she heard what sounded “like six or seven pops, like a nail gun going off.”
“And then it got quiet, and then all hell broke loose, like screaming, like people legitimately screaming,” the woman, who did not want to share her name, told WGRZ.
She said the police attacked Mohammed outside, and she saw two others detained. She added that the family had lived in the home for about two years.
Muhammad’s relationship with Al-Muthanna was not immediately clear.
“It is an incredibly sad occasion for the community here,” Dr. Khaled Qazi, president of the Islamic Public Affairs Council, told WKBW.
“Everyone is trying to get a handle on this incredibly sad situation. It seems that no one can understand why this is happening, what the underlying causes are, and how it can be prevented in the future.”
Muhammad is charged with first-degree murder in the Buffalo shooting and three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of his wife and children. He is being held without bail.
If convicted, Muhammad faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole, the Erie County District Attorney’s Office said, noting that “additional charges may be filed.”