‘Suspects charged in drive-by shooting’

AMMAN — A man was charged with premeditated murder on Monday in connection with a drive-by shooting in the capital that left one person dead, officials said.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Ashraf Abdullah also charged eight other suspects with complicity in premeditated murder and attempted murder, after a 42-year-old man was shot dead in Amman’s Jubeiha on Sunday, a senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.  

The victim was standing trial at the Criminal Court, charged with instigating a murder, and was on bail when he was killed.

A second person, who was in the vehicle with the victim, was injured but is in a good condition, said the judicial source. 

“It was a revenge crime. The suspects wanted to avenge the death of one of their relatives and targeted the victim whose brother is standing trial for murdering their relative,” the judicial source said.

In his initial confession, the main suspect said that his family had learned that the victim was released on bail several months earlier “and decided to kill him to avenge the killing of their relative”, the official said.

“The suspects monitored the victim and on Sunday morning followed his vehicle. Once it stopped at a traffic light, the main suspect, who was hooded, got out of the vehicle and emptied the pistol on him,” the source said.

The suspect and his alleged accomplices sped off to an unknown destination, the judicial source added.

Police said in a statement that a special team was formed and arrested the suspects within hours of the shooting based on eyewitness accounts, surveillance footage and evidence collected at the scene.

An autopsy performed on the victim at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine found that he received 12 bullets to his head, neck and chest, a second source said.

The weapon reportedly used in the incident was recovered and sent to the crime lab for a ballistic match, the second source told The Jordan Times.

Abdullah is expected to hear more witnesses in the case and to question the suspects to learn more about the incident, the judicial source said.

Lawyer Issa Abu Fidda, who was representing the victim and three other suspects in the murder case, said he was shocked to learn about the incident.

“I first learned about it in the press and was later informed that it was one of my clients who was released on bail. It is really shocking,” Abu Fidda told The Jordan Times.

The lawyer added that the next hearing in the case is on September 5, adding that the charges “will be dropped against the victim since he is dead”.