Allen police confirmed that four people were found dead from gunshot wounds in a house in Collin County on Monday morning in what is believed to be a murder-suicide.
The bodies of Farman Sherwani, Layla Sherwani, and their sons Shaheen Sherwani, 12, and Mateen Sherwani, 2, were reportedly discovered in their home in the 1200 block of Aberdeen Drive.
Authorities have indicated that the parents had been mourning the death of their 4-year-old girl, who had drowned earlier this month, according to Fox 4 KDFW.
Neighbor Jacqueline Soto, who recently moved to the area, told reporters that the children’s grandmother had asked the police to conduct a welfare check after she was unable to enter the home.
“She was just really distraught,” Soto said, according to Fox 4.
Imam Abdul Rahman Bashir, the religious director of the Islamic Association of Allen, told Fox 4 that the Sherwanis were members of the organization and had been going through a difficult time after losing their daughter.
“From what my understanding is they were a close-knit family. [A few] siblings lived on the same street within walking distance of each other,” Bashir said. “In this type of situation, it’s not easy for any family. In spite of having many family members here, they were really broken.”
Following the Islamic tradition, a funeral — a ritual known as Janaza — was held for the family as quickly as possible on August 29.
Allen’s Muslim community was also struck by a mass murder-suicide in 2021 that resulted in six family members being found dead.
“That was also very gut wrenching for our community as well,” said Bashir about the 2021 incident, according to NBC 5 DFW.
The Islamic Association of Allen is collaborating with the Muslim Association of Psychological Services in the wake of the recent tragedy.
“We reach out to the community to remind them of the importance of being there for each other, if someone needs help, to reach out to whoever it is that may trust to reach out in these tragic times. We offer the mosque and open these doors to serve as a safe place for them,” Bashir explained, per NBC 5.
While the investigation into the deaths is ongoing, Allen police suggested that the family’s recent loss played a part in the incident. They have not yet revealed who the shooter was.
“As the father of three children myself, it’s something very hard to digest and grapple with the gravity of the situation, what the family may have been going through. We just continue to encourage the community to be there for each other during this time of sorrow and grief and we also encourage the community to cherish their family members and the moments that they have and be cognizant of the uncertainty of life,” Bashir added, according to NBC 5.
As recently reported by The Dallas Express, the nationwide suicide rate hit an all-time high in 2022. Data from the CDC indicated that 55% of last year’s suicides were carried out using guns, followed by suffocation at 26% and poisoning at 12%.
Last month, McKinney police interrupted an attempted murder-suicide in a home on Copperhead Drive, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
After the suspect and an 8-year-old boy were hospitalized for hanging injuries, the former — identified by authorities as 32-year-old Kendall Pierre Thigpen-Watkins — was taken into custody.
Thigpen-Watkins was charged with attempted capital murder of a person under the age of 10.
In nearby Dallas, there have been 166 criminal homicides this year as of August 30, an increase of over 6% compared to last year, according to the City of Dallas Open Data crime overview dashboard.
The Dallas Police Department has been suffering from a significant police shortage in recent years. It currently only employs around 3,100 officers. However, a City report previously advised that a city the size of Dallas needs about 4,000 officers.
The shortage has been especially felt in Downtown Dallas, which regularly logs higher crime rates than Fort Worth’s downtown area, where a special police unit works alongside private security guards to monitor the area.