ABHA, 22 August 2006 — A Saudi drug addict committed suicide after murdering his father and a police officer on Saturday at the man’s family home in the village of Rabeia in Abha.
According to police, an argument took place between the father and the son, a 37-year-old teacher who was fired from his job because of his drug addiction and bad behavior. A police spokesman said the father went to the Al-Suda police station to file a complaint and get help in taking the son to hospital for treatment.
The spokesman said that the police officer asked the father whether the son was armed or not and was told that he was not. When the two men entered the house at around 5 p.m., the 37-year-old used his father’s machine gun to shoot them dead.
Following the shooting, police surrounded the house to prevent the son from escaping. Using a microphone, officers tried to convince the son to surrender himself but could not gain a response.
Fearing that the drug addict may have escaped before they arrived, police officers spread out across the village closing down all entry and exit points. At around 10 p.m. police stormed the house to find that the son had shot himself dead using the machinegun.
Neighbors revealed that the father was a retired army colonel and that the son was a known troublemaker. They say that the man may have committed the crime while under the influence of drugs. The father had taken a third wife after divorcing his previous two wives and had been living with his third wife for two years before retiring as a police colonel.
