Police believe at this time that it was a murder-suicide, but can’t figure out who did the shooting—the mother or the father (Mohammad Walji)? Doesn’t that seem strange? Surely someone must have been holding a gun (or had it close enough to their body to be clearly the shooter).
And, then what is the motive?
There is some suggestion that even after 15 years in Canada they had not received legal status, was that it? Or, was their handicapped Canadian daughter becoming too Western in her appearance and approach to life? Was it an honor killing? If anyone sees an update on the story, please send it my way.
From the National Post:
A funeral Tuesday at an Ismaili Muslim mosque in Toronto will bring to a close the tragic lives of a Tanzanian refugee family from London, Ont., found dead last Thursday in what police describe as a double murder and suicide.
But troubling questions will remain, as detectives try to sort out who was the shooter, and whether there was some kind of suicide pact, or any indication of motive, mental illness, or other relevant circumstance.
London police will confirm little about the investigation, but one thing seems likely — that 21-year-old Qyzra Walji, a severely disabled young woman with cerebral palsy who graduated high school this year and has written movingly about her new life in Canada, was killed by one of her parents.
I wonder what was holding up their permanent residency? Heck, Canada must have already invested much in the daughter’s health, and she appears to have been an intellectual asset to the handicapped community there.
The Walji family came to Canada 15 years ago as refugees from Tanzania, and feared deportation as they spent thousands on immigration counsel, seeking permanent residency.
Wikidpedia tells us that Tanzania is 37% Muslim which surprised me, I assumed it was a smaller percentage of the population.