Grapevine Tx Man, Aziz Yazdanpanah, Guns Down Estranged Wife, His Children, His SIL and Her Family on Christmas Day Dressed as Santa/911 Call Released

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) – Police said the man they believe is responsible for a Christmas Day shooting that left him and six members of his extended family dead was dressed as Santa Claus.

Grapevine police spokesman Sgt. Robert Eberling said Monday the shooter "showed up shortly before the incident took place" in the Santa outfit and was a member of the family opening gifts in the apartment.
Eberling said the identity of the man and the victims will be released after autopsies are conducted Monday.
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Police seek motive in Texas family deaths

Dallas (CNN) -- Autopsies will be conducted Monday on seven family members who were shot -- apparently by one of their own -- at a Christmas gathering, police said.
"The information we have is that this is a family, some of them related by marriage but mostly by blood," Grapevine, Texas, police Sgt. Robert Eberling said Monday. "They have lived in other areas in the (Dallas) metroplex and they came yesterday for a Christmas gathering."
Authorities believe the shooter "was one of the individuals inside the apartment that was also deceased," Eberling said. "We know he is a family member ... we are working to find out why exactly this took place. We contacted other family members to piece this together."
The shooter is believed to have been related to the family by marriage, he said.
Police said Sunday the group was either in the process of opening Christmas gifts or had just finished doing so when the shootings occurred in the living room of the apartment in Grapevine, about 25 miles northwest of Dallas.
Authorities responded to the address Sunday after receiving a 911 call from the apartment, but hearing only an open line, police said in a statement.
The seven bodies -- four female adults and three adult males -- were found when officers entered the apartment. "All victims appear to have gunshot wounds," said the statement.
The victims range in age from 15 to 58 or 59 years old, Eberling said Monday. Autopsy results will be available Tuesday, he said.
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NewsCore) - A gunman who shot dead six family members inside a Texas apartment on Christmas morning was reportedly dressed as Santa Claus as he carried out the suspected murder-suicide.

The seven people were found dead shortly after unwrapping Christmas gifts inside the first-floor apartment in Grapevine, northwest of Dallas.

Two weapons were found at the scene and police believe the gunman shot himself after slaughtering the four women and three men, aged from 18 to 60.

Law enforcement sources said he was dressed in a festive Santa outfit as he carried out the massacre, both KXAS-TV and The Dallas Morning News reported Monday.

Police said the victims were related by blood or marriage but did not all live at the murder scene. Investigators have identified all seven but are waiting for medical examiners to confirm the identities and notify family members.

Police also said Monday the shooter did not appear to live at the apartment.

Two of the female victims and one male victim were aged from 18 to 20, police told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The other two women were older, and the two other men, including the suspected gunmen, were over 50, the newspaper said.

Grapevine police Sgt. Robert Eberling called it "a tragic situation," and one of the most gruesome crimes in Grapevine history. The Dallas suburb is about 20 miles from downtown and known to be a quiet, middle class community.

The seven bodies were found in the common areas of the property after police received a 911 call from the apartment complex at 11:30am local time Sunday. There was nobody at the other end of the call.

The front-door of the apartment was locked when law enforcement arrived. After forcing their way inside, officers found "seven victims, all deceased," Eberling said in a brief written statement Sunday.

Neighbors at the well-maintained suburban apartment complex did not report hearing any gunshots during the killing spree however The Star-Telegram said many of the nearby apartments were vacant.

Locals told KDFW-TV that police had visited the complex before but said the family kept to themselves.
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Vigil honors victims of Texas Christmas shooting

Reuters) - Six victims of a Christmas Day shooting rampage near Dallas were honored by more than 100 friends on Wednesday who wept and clung to each other as they shared their memories at a candlelit vigil.

The group gathered early in the evening at a park in this quiet suburb about a mile from the apartment complex where police said Aziz Yazdanpanah, 58, opened fire on Sunday morning and killed his estranged wife Fatemeh Rahmati, 56, and two children Nona, 19, and Ali, 14.

Toting two pistols and dressed as Santa, the gunman also shot and killed his wife's sister, Zohreh Rahmaty, 58, her husband, Mohamad Hossein Zarei, 59, and their daughter, Sahra Zarei, 22, before turning a gun on himself.

"Nona would not want harsh words said, only good things," said Allison Baum, Nona's best friend and the organizer of the event to remember the family of Iranian immigrants who had settled in the Dallas-Fort Worth area decades ago.

"This is a night of closure and a way to pay our respects," she added.

The family was beloved by the Iranian community in the Dallas area, according to long-time family friend Fran Hosseiny, who said she received a call from relatives of the victims in Iran on Wednesday morning.

"They were worried that no one was here to remember them," she said. "I told them they had so many friends and were so loved that no one will forget them."

Sahra's boyfriend, Jonathan Garcia, was among those who paid tribute at Wednesday's vigil. He was the last person to have contact with any of the victims through a text message sent by Sahra on Sunday morning.

"We were very close and had lots of plans," Garcia said of Sahra, who he said hoped to go to medical school after graduating from the University of Texas at Arlington in the spring.

"I do know she left us happy, and I have no doubt about that."

Karim Ghoghaie, who said he had known the family for more than 30 years, told Reuters that relatives from London and Los Angeles arrived on Wednesday to claim the bodies, which will be buried at a private funeral in the Dallas area on Thursday.

The massacre rocked the usually festive Dallas suburb dubbed the "Christmas Capital of Texas" and known more for its tourism, Christmas season events, festivals and vineyards than for violence.

As friends prepared to remember the victims on Wednesday, new details from the ongoing police investigation emerged.

Search warrants released in the day identified two guns recovered from the scene as a Smith & Wesson 915 model 9 mm pistol and a Glock 23 .40-caliber pistol.

Police said they found one pistol in the hand of Yazdanpanah, who shot himself in the head, and another in the hand of his brother-in-law.

"We believe Yazdanpanah put the gun in Zarei's hand to make it look like he had shot them," said Grapevine Lt. Todd Dearing. "But we know that Mohamad was a victim just like the others."
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Police name Texas Christmas shooting suspect

(Reuters) - Dressed in a Santa suit, Aziz Yazdanapah showed up at his estranged wife's home near Dallas during a Christmas celebration with her sister's family, and killed everyone before turning the gun on himself, police believe.

The seven bodies were discovered strewn in the living room area of the Grapevine apartment, amid opened presents and near a Christmas tree.

Police identified the dead on Tuesday as two families connected through a pair of sisters.

Suspected shooter Aziz Yazdanpanah, 58, had been estranged from his wife and two teenage children when they moved out of the family's upscale home in nearby Colleyville earlier this year.

His wife, Fatemeh Rahmati, 56, who was a licensed manicurist at a local salon, as well as their daughter, Nona Yazdanpanah, 19, and their son, Ali Yazdanpanah, 14, were also killed.

In the other family, who were visiting Rahmati's apartment on Christmas morning, were her sister, Zohreh Rahmaty, 58, Hossein Zarei, 59, and daughter Sahra Zarei, 22.

"Aziz is the one that was dressed in the Santa suit, and whom we believe ... to be the shooter at this time," Grapevine Police Lieutenant Todd Dearing told Reuters late on Tuesday.

"It was a family incident, they were all related by marriage or blood," he added.

The dead were found by police answering a voiceless 911 emergency call, authorities said.

Evidence released by police on Tuesday narrowed the time of the shooting down to an 18-minute window between 11:16 a.m. when one of the victims sent an "innocuous" text message and 11:34 when the 911 call was received, Dearing said.

The text message "said something along the lines of 'I'm here, Aziz is here dressed as Santa, trying to be the Dad of the Year,'" Dearing said.

It was not immediately clear who sent or received the message.

'QUIET BUT VERY NICE'

Dearing said investigators do not yet know whether Yazdanpanah arrived at the apartment with the intention of killing his family and in-laws.

"We can't possibly know his full intent," Dearing told Reuters. "We don't know whether he was invited or not invited. It could be that Fatemeh told him he could stop by and drop off presents."

Yazdanpanah's family, Iranian immigrants who had settled in the Dallas-Fort Worth area decades ago, had been fighting foreclosure and had declared bankruptcy on their home, a 3,000-square foot house built in 1990 and recently valued near $350,000, according to public records.

Neighbors said that while bankruptcy and foreclosure proceedings moved through the courts, Yazdanpanah had continued to live in the home on Sycamore Court in Colleyville, which borders Grapevine, known for its upscale suburban lifestyle and situated just a few miles away from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

He was a friendly man who loved his children, neighbors said.

"They were very good neighbors," said Fred Ditmars, who lived across the street from the family for more than four years. "Quiet but very nice."

Ditmars said Yazdanpanah would watch his house when he and his family were away.

The killings rocked the quiet, festive Dallas suburb dubbed the "Christmas Capital of Texas" and known more for its tourism, Christmas season events, festivals and vineyards than for violence. It was the worst outburst of gun violence in the history of the town, which hadn't seen a homicide since June 2010.

Two pistols were recovered from the home, said Sergeant Robert Eberling of the Grapevine police department, who called it a "gruesome crime scene."

No one was found alive by police arriving at the home, he said.

A memorial organized by Nona Yazdanpanah's best friend is scheduled to take place at Parr Park in Grapevine on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

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WAS THE SANTA CLAUS KILLER‘S CHRISTMAS DAY MASSACRE AN ’HONOR KILLING?’

Motive can be a tough element to pinpoint, especially when there are few details left behind in a complicated homicide case. On Monday, the Blaze reported on the tragic murderous rampage by a man dressed up as Santa Claus in Grapevine, Texas. Now, some allege that the entire incident was an honor killing.

The murderer, identified as 56-year-old Aziz Yazdanpanah, apparently went to his estranged wife’s apartment dressed in costume and killed six people. Sadly, this included his own children and family members. According to the International Business Times, the victims were (although names have not officially been released by the medical examiner):
…Yazdanpanah’s ex-wife Nasrin Rahmaty (55), daughter Nona Yazdanpanah (19), son Ali Yazdanpanah (15), sister-in-law Zohreh Rahmaty (58), brother-in-law Hossein Zarei (59) and niece Sahra Zarei (22).


Yazdanpanah's wife, Nasrin Rahmaty (center)

Following the incident, Robert Spencer, a well-known author and columnist who runs the web site Jihad Watch, wonders if Yazdanpanah, who was a Muslim, couldn’t handle the fact that his daughter was dating a non-believer. In this potential scenario, Yazdanpanah would have killed the family to avoid any associated dishonor resulting from the relationship. An article published on Jihad Watch reads:

Aziz Yazdanpanah, a Muslim, didn‘t like his daughter’s non-Muslim boyfriend and was exhibiting stalker behavior. [...]
Again and again we have seen honor killings in which fathers kill daughters who are dating non-Muslims or have supposedly besmirched the family honor by some sexual indiscretion. Lt. Todd Dearing says that motive isn’t important — which is generally only the case when Islam is involved.

Aziz Yazdanpanah
Initial media reports portrayed a man whose life was in ruins. In 2010, Yazdanpanah filed for bankruptcy and then he and his wife separated earlier this year. Additionally, his home foreclosed. All of these occurrences come with a great deal of stress and isolation. Collectively, it’s entirely possible that the strain from each played a role in his horrendous actions.

In addressing the “honor killing” potential, Jihad Watch quotes Nona Yazdanpanah’s (Yazdanpanah’s daughter) friend, Lacie Reed. The young girl was quoted as saying, “She (Nona) would come to school crying and telling us her dad was crazy. He wouldn’t let her wear certain things. He was always taking her phone away, checking her call history and checking her text messages.”


Nona Yazdanpanah

Reed went on to say that Nona couldn’t date until she was “a certain age” and that she wasn‘t allowed to date anyone outside of the family’s race or religion. In addition to these details, Jihad Watch also claims that Yazdanpanah had installed cameras around the family’s home in an effort to monitor the activities that were going on.
These quotes, in themselves, are not enough to definitively call the murder-suicide an “honor killing.” That being said, the information, should it be true, does cause some questions to emerge.

So far, the Grapevine Police Department has been tight-lipped about the details surrounding the case, so any and all theories regarding motive will have to wait for definitive answering.

“We never really have encountered a situation with this many victims that were shot and killed,” Sgt. Roger Eberling said. “We’re still trying to uncover the background here. This is the worst homicide we’ve ever had.”
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Police release 911 call from Texas Christmas Day massacre


Police released a 911 call believed to be from the accused shooter in the Grapevine massacre, adding more details to what lead up to the deadly shooting.

After all the family members had been shot, police believe 56-year-old Aziz Yazdanpanah called 911 and then shot himself, according to a WFAA story.

“On the recording, we discovered that the caller, whom we believe to be Aziz, additionally saying ‘I am shooting people’ after he said ‘Help… Help.’” said Grapevine police spokesman Lt. Todd Dearing in a statement that accompanies the tape. “The newly discovered audio was not heard on the original audio software over many playbacks, and was not heard/understood by the Dispatcher who took the call on Sunday.”

From the Associated Press:

Investigators say Yazdanpanah, who had marital and financial problems, killed his estranged wife, their two teenage children, his wife’s sister, his brother-in-law and his niece on Christmas day before turning the gun on himself.

They were at an apartment in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine, where his wife and children had been staying.

Yazdanpanah’s niece, 22-year-old Sara Fatemeh Zarei, sent a text to a friend just before 11 a.m. saying they had arrived at the apartment and that Yazdanpanah was there.

“Soo we’re here. We just got here and my uncle is here too. Dressed as Santa. Awesome,” she said in one text.

At 11:15 a.m. she texted, “Now he wants to be all fatherly and win father of the year.”

Yazdanpanah’s niece, 22-year-old Sara Fatemeh Zarei, sent a text to a friend just before 11 a.m. saying they had arrived at the apartment and that Yazdanpanah was there.

“Soo we’re here. We just got here and my uncle is here too. Dressed as Santa. Awesome,” she said in one text.

At 11:15 a.m. she texted, “Now he wants to be all fatherly and win father of the year.”

Twenty minutes later, Yazdanpanah called 911 to report the shootings.
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Horrific and completely no reason for this to happen!!