Arizona Murder-Suicide: Man Fatally Shoots Wife, Kills Self Over Domestic Dispute

KEY POINTS

The woman had called 911 asking officers to remove her husband from their house
At that time, the husband was not at home and the woman was with her son
When officers and her son left home, the husband returned and killed his wife before shooting self

In a case of murder-suicide, a woman was fatally shot by her husband in Phoenix, Arizona, before he killed himself. Police identified the deceased as Syeda Sohaly Akter, 43, and Abul Ahsan Habib, 52.

The Phoenix Police Department said dispatchers were sent to a home near Baseline Road and 39th Avenue on Sunday morning after they received a 911 call. Akter had called the officers to ask them to remove her husband from the house. However, at the time, Habib was not at home.

Officers arrived and talked to Akter about getting a protective order against Habib. When police officers were at the home, the woman's son was also present. However, after officers and her son left home, Habib came back home, AZFamily reported.

Akter called 911 again, during which the dispatchers heard gunshots. The police officers arrived at the scene and found Akter and Habib dead.

The couple's neighbor, Katherine Rodriguez said, "There was just a bunch of police cars and people coming around and we're like, 'What's happening?' And we can see it through the back of our window too that there was a lot of stuff going on," Fox10 Phoenix reported.

"Obviously this is a tragedy. When you have a man who kills his wife and then kills himself, that's a tragedy and I don't know how to describe it other than that. So our hearts go out to the family members that have to live through this," Sgt. Tommy Thompson with the Phoenix Police Department told local media.

Speaking about domestic dispute cases, Myriah Mhoon, the CEO of New Life Center, said while such calls for help are dropping, the pandemic period could lead to an increase in violence.

"The first time in the last two and a half years, I actually have beds available, but we are seeing a spike in of deaths due to domestic violence. So what that is telling me is that the pandemic and the isolation between the survivor and the perpetrator does have significance when we're looking at, did the pandemic have an escalation or create an escalation of domestic violence," Mhoon explained.