Psychiatrist in Murder Suicide

A report from Beirut, Lebanon

A psychiatrist committed suicide Wednesday morning after shooting dead a father and his two daughters.

Jack Hreiki, a 42-year-old psychiatrist, shot a 26-year-old lawyer, Chantal Ghanem; her sister Cheryl, a 29-year-old accountant; and their father Ghassan, a 58-year-old engineer; in the town of Batroumin in the northern province of Koura.

The victims were on their way to work in Tripoli when they were shot with a pump-action shotgun.

Hreiki, whose fellow townsmen described as a "psychiatrist in need of a psychological assistance," then went home and committed suicide.

A security source told The Daily Star that Hreiki knew his victims, as he was in love with Chantal, who had rejected him, for three years.

The source said Hreiki waited for the Ghanem family to leave for work, and when he blocked their path carrying a shotgun, the father stepped out from the car in an attempt to dissuade him from shooting. Ghassan was targeted first.

Hreiki then shot and killed the man's two daughters, who had witnessed the first shooting from the car.

Hreiki had repeatedly threatened Chantal, the sources said, and the Ghanem family had alerted the Internal Security Forces.

The homicide is the third this month [...]