17-year-old girl charged with murder of 3 family members

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Thursday charged a 17-year-old girl with three counts of murder in connection with the alleged shooting of five of her family members in Irbid earlier in the day, official sources said.

The suspect reportedly opened fire at her family members while at her family’s home in Zahar at around 10:30am, “killing her father, two siblings and critically injuring her mother and a third brother,” Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“Initial investigations indicated the shooting occurred over family disputes,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

The police official added that investigators retrieved a pump action shotgun that was found at the scene of the crime.

A second official source told The Jordan Times that investigators found five empty shells in various parts of the house.

“Crime scene investigators located five empty shells in different rooms and collected them for a ballistic match,” the second official source said.

A postmortem conducted at the Irbid National Institute of Forensic Medicine indicated that each of the victims died of a single bullet wound, a senior medical source said. 

“The father, 44, was shot in the face, while one of the brothers, 14, was shot in the heart and the second, eight, died of a bullet wound to the lungs,” the senior medical source told The Jordan Times. 

The suspect’s mother, 41, was admitted to the ICU at a nearby hospital and was listed in critical condition, according to the senior medical source. 

Meanwhile, the third brother, 9, was also being treated at the same hospital and was listed in fair condition, the senior medical source added.

Lawyer Loui Obeidat told The Jordan Times that if convicted of the charges, the suspect could be handed between eight and 12 years in prison. 

Irbid Criminal Court Prosecutor Mohammad Nuseir ordered that the suspect be held at the Russeifeh Juvenile Correctional Centre for 10 days pending further investigation, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.