Woman allegedly kills family members in Massachusetts before committing suicide

Four people died in Lynn, Massachusetts Tuesday in a murder-suicide that spanned three different crime scenes.

Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said Lynn police responded to 98 Rockaway St. shortly before 2:55 p.m. Tuesday afternoon after receiving a report of 20 shots fired in under 3 minutes.

Upon arrival, police found two deceased males, ages 66 and 34, dead of apparent gunshot wounds.

Around 4:30pm, in a nearby Stop & Shop parking lot at 35 Washington St. police found a 31-year-old woman, Khosay Sharifi, a refugee from Kabul, Afghanistan, dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

At a third site less than a mile away, on Laighton Street, a woman was found dead inside a parked silver van.

All of the deceased individuals are related to one another and preliminary investigation suggests that Khosay Sharifi was the alleged shooter who shot her father and brother-in-law at the first site on Rockaway Street. She then traveled to Laighton Street and allegedly shot her aunt before going to the Stop & Shop parking lot and shooting herself.

Investigators believe the reason for the murders was that Sharifi wanted to free her sister from an allegedly abusive marriage where her husband had been allegedly physically and sexually abusing her over a 14-year period.

Sharifi explained in a Facebook post just before the murders:

“Several months ago, I found out that my sister has been abused by her husband for 14 years (since they first met). He has chocked her, slapped, kicked, swore at her & the most recent a year and a half ago has punched her in her face.

“My parents & his parents knew all these years but have not really done much but say “work it out” “what will people say if you separate” or even victim blaming.

“I’m trying to say all this as nice as I can so my post doesn’t get deleted. There’s no excuse for what he did. He kept doing it because no one did anything about it. How long did he think he would get away with it? They don’t realize that abuse can affect someone not just physically but also mentally. No form of abuse is ok.

“To my sister: I hope you start healing & actually teach your daughters that abuse is not ok as they have also witnessed him slap you. I asked how they felt about that & they said they were scared & didn’t know what to do. Let’s not pass this on to your kids as it has been passed on to you.

“My father has also been abusive before & verbally but mostly financially abusive to my mom from what I’ve personally witnessed. Maybe that’s why my mom did not protect her own daughter, because she’s a victim too. But that’s no excuse, how can you let your own daughter get abused.

“Also, don’t force me to be with the wrong person just for the sake of marriage. This whole mindset of “just work it out” needs to change because it is not healthy. I will not deal with this nonsense.”

The shooting is being investigated by Lynn police, the Essex State Police Detective Unit, and Blodgett’s office.