Suspect in murder of 4 was killed by angry residents- update

Residents of the Mount Lebanon village of Ktirmaya on Thursday killed the murder suspect of two grandparents and their two young grandchildren.

Lebanon’s National News Agency identified the killer as Mohammed Salim Mosallam who allegedly shot to death Youssef Abu Merhi, 75, and his wife Kawthar, 70, along with their grandchildren Zeina, 7, and Amneh, 9.

It said Mosallam was beaten up while he was reenacting the crime for security forces. He was then rushed to a hospital in Siblin by the police .

But the locals chased the killer to Siblin hospital and killed him. Then they dragged his body out, tied it to a car and drove to Ktirmaya’s main square.

There, the residents stripped the killer of his clothing, tied a metal wire around his neck and hung him on a pole.

The bullet-riddled bodies were discovered Wednesday by the two girls’ mother, Rana Youssef Abu Merhi, as she returned home from work.

The bodies were lying on the floor of Youssef Abu Merhi’s house in Ktirmaya in the Iqlim al-Kharroub province of Mount Lebanon.

Rana, a teacher at a nearby school, is divorced from the father, Mohammed Mustafa al-Rawwas, who is said to be living abroad.

Police reported that a knife and clothes with blood on them were found in the suspect’s residence.

Update: ISF officers disciplined

Internal Security Forces (ISF) Director General Ashraf Rifi took disciplinary measures against several ISF members over the incident in the village of Ketermaya in Iqlim al-Kharroub province of Mount Lebanon, where residents attacked and killed the suspect in Wednesday’s murder in the village following his arrest, National News Agency (NNA) has reported

Rifi punished the officers for “making a grave error in the judgment of the field situation and for failing to ensure the protection of the murder suspect,” the NNA added.

Rifi condemned the murder of the four victims and offered his condolences to their relatives.

This comes after the National News Agency (NNA) reported on Wednesday that Youssef Abu Merhe, his wife, Kawthar, and their nine and seven-year old granddaughters were found dead in their home in the village.