LYNN — The 31-year-old woman accused of killing three members of her family before killing herself Tuesday posted a lengthy message on Facebook in the wake of the shootings in which she accused those same family members of abuse and turning a blind eye to abuse by members of their family.
Khosay Sharifi is believed to have killed her 66-year-old father and 34-year-old brother-in-law inside her home at 98 Rockaway St., a law enforcement official with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Item. Sharifi then killed her brother-in-law’s father on Laighton Street before turning the gun on herself inside her vehicle at the Stop & Shop on Washington Street.
The shootings unfolded beginning at 2:53 p.m. Tuesday, when Lynn Police responded to a report of shots fired at the Rockaway Street address.
Sharifi’s Facebook post was published at 3:06 p.m. In it, she writes that her sister had been abused by her husband for 14 years.
“He has chocked (sic) her, slapped, kicked, swore at her and the most recent a year and a half ago has punched her in the face,” the post reads.
The post goes on to accuse Sharifi’s parents, as well as her in-laws of knowing about the abuse but turning a blind eye. It was the first post on her account in over a year.
A sign posted on the door of 98 Rockaway St. Wednesday afternoon contained a link to a GoFundMe fundraiser entitled “Funeral Fund for the Sharifi Family of Lynn, MA.”
The fundraiser, organized by Lema Sharifi, includes a statement from the family.
“As many of you may have heard, our family was struck with tragedy during the afternoon of Tuesday, August 23rd, 2022,” the statement reads. “We have lost four loved ones in devastating and unforeseen circumstances.”
“We are absolutely traumatized, heartbroken, and lost.”
Earlier Wednesday, Robin Christiansen, who lives across the street from 98 Rockaway St., said the residents of the home were typically quiet and kept to themselves.
“It was a very quiet house, never heard any disturbances, police weren’t there, I’ve never seen any kind of commotion,” Christiansen said. “The dad was always cutting up the roses and stuff, I’d see him out front just hovering around.”
Chris Caswell, who lives on the corner of Jefferson Street and Rockaway Street, said that he heard around 20 shots Tuesday afternoon, and saw a woman run out of the house with blood on her hands.
“First we heard a scream, a loud scream, and then we heard like 10 shots, and then, not even a minute later, we heard 10 more shots. Out of the green house (98 Rockaway) a lady came running out screaming asking people for help with blood on her hands,” Caswell said.
A resident of nearby Allen Street, Taralynn Aguilar, 19, was walking to work when she heard the shots Tuesday afternoon. She said she saw a woman pick up her son and run away from the gunfire.
“This lady that had her son, she had to pick him up and start running when the shooting started,” she said. “The person that was shooting was shooting towards them, so she had to pick him up and keep running.”
Carrie Kimball, a spokeswoman for Blodgett’s office, said officials were still working to notify victims’ family members and were in the process of interviewing witnesses of the shootings.
Charlie McKenna can be reached at [email protected]. Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected].
