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| Las Vegas boy, 5, safe after parents die in murder-suicide |
| By NATALIE PATTON The 5-year-old son of a Las Vegas couple heard the arguments and witnessed the violence that preceded Tuesday's murder-suicide of his parents, Las Vegas police said. Whether the boy witnessed the fatal shooting of his mother was unclear Wednesday because officers did not want to add to the trauma by questioning him at length, Sgt. Kevin Manning said. "He saw more than he should have seen," Manning said. The boy, who now is in the custody of relatives, was taken upstairs at a neighbor's home shortly after the father forced his way into that neighbor's home to hunt down the mother with a shotgun, Manning said. Minutes after the mother was killed, the father fatally shot himself. The killings occurred late Tuesday, just before midnight, in the 7500 block of Edgerton Drive, near Tenaya Way and Russell Road. The Clark County coroner's office identified the 32-year-old mother as Tigest Amha and the 50-year-old father as Behailu Shiffraw. Manning said it was unclear whether the couple still was married. Each had faced domestic abuse charges in the past. The mother was charged in 1997 with abuse against Shiffraw at their Edgerton Drive home. The father was charged in 1988, although it was unclear whether Amha was his victim, Manning said. "They were arguing; what over, actually, is no one's business," Manning said about the couple's Tuesday night fight. "The 5-year- old child was with the mother, and Dad had a shotgun. Mom ran to the neighbor's." As she ran, the father fired one shot and missed her, hitting the neighbor's wall. He then forced his way inside the neighbor's home and shot at the mother again, hitting her in the chest, Manning said. The neighbor "heard a shot and perceived a flash. She grabbed the child and ran upstairs. She was running upstairs and saw the female falling to the ground," Manning said. The father ran next door and was inside his house when he killed himself, Manning said. Las Vegas police received a call for help at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. "It's a tragedy," Manning said. "A family is torn apart. A child is left without the guidance of a mother or father. The paternal and maternal figures of the family are gone." Manning said about 20 percent to 30 percent of the Homicide Section's cases are related to domestic violence. Shiffraw also is survived by his 17- and 22-year-old children. A volunteer from the Trauma Intervention Program spent time early Wednesday at the crime scene trying to calm angry relatives and help survivors deal with their loss and grief. "We do what we call emotional first-aid," said Marian Thomas, the program's director and a crisis team manager. "We try to comfort and we try to diffuse the situation. We're the calm. In a situation like any kind of homicide, your first reaction is anger." Thomas said the 52 volunteers of the program, which is offering its next orientation session in October, are trained to comfort witnesses and survivors of those killed in violent crimes, as well as in other circumstances. |
| ***Printed on August 15, 2002 |
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