Police believe two brothers killed four family members and then died by suicide in a Dallas home as part of a pact, numerous sources reported.
The Allen Police Department said they were conducting a welfare check Monday after being notified by a friend of a suicidal young man who lived in the suburban home, NBC DFW reported.
Inside the home, police found six bodies. Police identified the deceased as 54-year-old father Towhidul Islam; 56-year-old mother Iren Islam; 77-year-old grandmother Altafun Nessa; 21-year-old Tanvir Towhid; and 19-year-old twins Farbin Towhid and her brother Farhan Towhid, according to NBC DFW.
BREAKING: @Allen_Police released names of murder-suicide victims/suspects…
Victims: Towhidul Islam (father), Iren Islam (mother), Altafun Nessa (grandmother — not pictured), Farbin Towhid (daughter).
Suspects: Farhan and Tanvir Towhid (brothers). @FOX4 https://t.co/chWuo4osBu pic.twitter.com/3pxvWsjGcI
— David Sentendrey (@DavidSFOX4) April 5, 2021
All of the deceased appeared to have died from gunshot wounds, CBS DFW reported.
Sgt. Jon Felty said it appeared “the two brothers had entered into an agreement,” the Associated Press (AP) reported. Felty reportedly referred to a link to a long letter one of the boys posted on their social-media page that detailed the murder-suicide pact.
“Apparently two brothers made an agreement to commit suicide and ended up taking the entire family with them,” Felty said, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The boys reportedly said they were both suffering from depression and would kill their family to spare them from the grief they’d experience over the boys’ suicides. In the letter, they said they would shoot their family before fatally shooting themselves, according to NBC DFW.
“Hey everyone, I killed myself and my family, Farhan Towhid reportedly wrote in a suicide note he posted on Instagram.
In the suicide note, Towhid wrote that he and his brother agreed that if they couldn’t “fix everything” in a year’s time, they would kill themselves and the family, according to CBS DFW.
“The plan was simple. We get two guns. I take one and shoot my sister and grandma, while my brother kills our parents with the other. Then we take ourselves out.”
”If I killed just myself, they would be miserable,” he wrote. “I love my family. I genuinely do. And that’s exactly why I decided to kill them.”
Police believe the murder-suicides happened sometime Saturday based on evidence in the house, according to NBC DFW. Felty reportedly said no neighbors reported hearing gunshots. Police wouldn’t confirm the number of guns used in the shooting but said the 21-year-old brother legally purchased a gun recently, according to NBC DFW. (RELATED: REPORT: Man Fatally Shoots 10-Year-Old Son And Himself In Suspected Murder-Suicide)
He added that the family emigrated from Bangladesh and the police were able to locate some family members in Florida, according to NBC DFW. One neighbor said the family was originally from New York but moved to the neighborhood several years ago, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Family friends and neighbors were shocked at what happened.
Shawn Ahsan, who knew the family for over a decade, said the father Towhidul Islam “was proud” of his three children, according to the Dallas Morning News. When Ahsan tried to reach Islam on Sunday, he was concerned. He found out about the deaths Monday morning.
“I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me,’ ” he said. “I couldn’t breathe for 20 minutes, to be honest with you, I was crying in my office.”
Ahmad Hossain, a neighbor, said the grandmother was visiting from Bangladesh at the time and was supposed to return one week prior but couldn’t due to COVID-19.
“It’s sad that happened to her, if she’d gone, she [would have survived],” he said, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Felty said he had never seen anything like this case in his two decades in Allen, according to NBC DFW.
“We have never had an incident like this in the 21 years that I’ve been here. So, as you can imagine, it’s just a tragedy. There’s no other way to describe it.”
“It’s a tragedy that you just can’t imagine. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family members and friends and we’re just very sorry that this event occurred,” he added.
An investigation is ongoing.