TAIF, 8 June — The police of Afif Governorate is investigating the circumstances surrounding a man involved in two shooting incidents in Taif and Afif. Sources within Afif’s police indicated that the arrested man was under investigation after firing a gun at a traveler whom he encountered at Taif-Riyadh highway. He later fired again, apparently at random, targeting an occupied house.
The suspect, before he arrived in Afif, had fired at the emergency staff of Taif’s Mental Hospital. Eye witnesses said that the suspect arrived at the hospital’s emergency room on Monday night and presented a prescription, asking the staff on duty for medicine. He was told it was not available at the hospital’s pharmacy. He became angry and left the hospital heading for his car where he pulled out a gun and fired eight rounds, targeting the Emergency Section personnel.
Sources at Taif Mental Hospital confirmed that the man was an in-patient for almost two years, suffering from mental illness. Dr. Hassan Mubarak, head of forensic medicine at Taif’s Mental Hospital said that this frequently presents in the individual as hypomania and depression.
