Four of a family killed in ambush

LAHORE:

Four members of a family, including two children, were gunned down by unidentified motorcyclists in Maralpur village near Ferozwala in Shiekhupura district on Wednesday.

The victims Shahnawaz, a resident of Batapur in Lahore, his wife Zainab Awan and two daughters were gravelling in a car that was attacked by armed men. As a result of the firing, the couple sitting in the front seats and the young girls in the back seats died on the spot. According to eye-witness accounts, unidentified motorcyclists intercepted the family on a road and opened fire at them.

The attackers fled from the spot immediately after firing.

People present nearby rushed to the spot after witnessing the attack.

When they opened the doors of the vehicle, the victims were lying in pools of blood.

An official shared that when the eye-witnesses approached the vehicle, they did not notice any movement in the victims’ bodies. They checked the pulse and breathing of the victims, but found them dead.

The witnesses said the man man was lying dead on the driving seat, the woman on the passenger’s seat. Both had bullet wounds in the head.

One of the minor girls was sitting in the back seat and and the other lying behind the driver’s seat.

“It looked like she was shot while attempting to slide under the seat of her father to take shelter,” an investigator told The Express Tribune.

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The investigator said it looked like a cold-blooded murder, probably by hitmen.

“The suspects had not resorted firing a volley of bullets but had shot at the most vulnerable parts of the bodies of the victims,” he said.

The crime scene presented the look of a targeted killing, the official said.

The investigator said a killer who was not a professional murderer mostly left indications of aggression at the crime scene like firing extra bullets, smashing windowpanes or hitting the body.

Initial police investigations suggested that the victims might have been murdered over an enmity. However, the exact motive of the attack was unclear till the evening.

Police took the bodies to a morgue for autopsy and collected forensic evidence from the crime scene. Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Rao Sardar Ali Khan took notice of the incident and asked the RPO of Sheikhupura to submit a report.

“The investigation should be completed as soon as possible while keeping in view all the aspects of the case and the killers should be arrested and sentenced,” he said.

As soon as the incident was reported, Sheikhupura District Police Officer (DPO) Ahsan Saifullah, Ferozwala DSP Imran Abbas Chadhar and the area SHO reached the spot along with a heavy contingent of police who collected evidence with the help of a forensics team. The police took the bodies into custody and informed relatives of the deceased about the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2021.