Three members of two Iranian indie rock bands were killed in Brooklyn on Monday morning in a tragic murder-suicide. The murderer, identified as Ali Akbar Mohammadi Rafie, 29, a member of the Free Keys, shot and killed Soroush Farazmand, 27, of the Yellow Dogs; his brother Arash, 28, a drummer who joined the Yellow Dogs after playing in the Free Keys; and another Iranian band member, Ali Eskandarian, 35; all at the same location before killing himself.
The shooter was found on the roof of the building after taking his own life. Ali Salehezadeh, who handles publicity for the Yellow Dogs, explained to CNN that the gunman and the band originally stopped communicating as a result of a “petty conflict.” New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly states that the shooter was attempting to settle a “dispute… over money” between the two bands.
Ali Akbar Mohammadi Rafie shot one victim with .308-caliber assault rifle through a window before entering the building in East Williamsburg and killing the other two musicians inside.
The bands had initally moved to New York to escape repression from the Iranian government and society. Learn more about the Yellow Dogs in the CNN documentary above.