A Muslim man in the south suburban Chicago town of Tinley Park was arrested and charged with murdering his wife and three young daughters in the basement of his home last week.
Police discovered the bodies of Majeda Kassem, 53, and her three daughters, 25-year-old twins, Halema and Zahia, and 24-year-old Hanan Kassem, all were shot and killed in the home after the family patriarch, Maher Kassem, called 9-1-1 on January 21 and reported that his wife had been shot.
During a January 22 press conference, the Tinley Park police called the incident “an act of senseless domestic violence” and reported that Maher Kassem confirmed his alleged part in the shootings.
The man’s wife was shot seven times and his daughters two times each, WBBM-TV reported.
Kassem’s 19-year-old son was also in the home during the shooting and reportedly witnessed the whole incident. He was left unharmed.
The suspect reportedly told police he was upset at his wife for how she treated him. “The defendant was recorded volunteering things about just having retired and that, ‘she treats me like a f*** dog. I worked 40 years,’ and ‘I worked all my life to give my family a better home and they treat me like s***. They treat me like a dog,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Scott Clark.
The man also told dispatchers on a 9-1-1 call that there were “four people shot” and added “I’m going to jail.”
“Words can’t describe how deeply saddened I am at this horrible tragedy,” said Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz. “A mother and her three daughters are gone, murdered in an act of senseless domestic violence. The entire Tinley Park community is heartbroken at the loss of these four innocent women, and we grieve alongside the family, friends and neighbors who loved them.”
Arab American Family Services representative Itedal Shalabi quickly claimed that Kassem’s Muslim faith played no part in his motivation to allegedly commit the murders:
And so this is intimate family violence. This is where we talk about — what’s behind closed doors? No one knows but those individuals inside that home. This is not about faith. This is not about culture.
The Tinley Park Police had no previous calls to the Kassem home on record.
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