Suspect in Shafa Badran shooting charged with premeditated murder

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Tuesday charged a 27-year-old man with premeditated murder in connection with the shooting death of his relative a day earlier in Amman, official sources said.

The death of the 28-year-old man resulted in rioting, which claimed the lives of one of his relatives a few hours after the victim was gunned down in the street in Shafa Badran, a senior official source told The Jordan Times.

Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times that the situation was calm in the neighbourhood Tuesday, and explained that the relative’s death in the riots was due to smoke inhalation.

“There were some acts of rioting following the murder. A man died in the process from smoke inhalation,” after relatives of the murdered man set three homes to fire in retaliation, Sartawi said.

“He was rushed to hospital but he was already dead,” he added.

On the murder, “the shooting victim was walking in the street when the suspect approached him and shot him multiple times in different parts of his body,” the senior official source said.

The suspect attempted to escape but “a nearby police patrol immediately arrested him”, according to the source.

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital but was declared dead on arrival, the source added.

In his initial testimony to Criminal Court Prosecutor Ihsan Salamat, the suspect claimed that he had engaged in disputes with the victim over financial matters, according to a second source close to the investigation.

As a result, the second source told The Jordan Times, the suspect “plotted to kill the victim and waited for him to pass by since they both lived in the same neighbourhood and shot him dead”.

The murder weapon was retrieved by the police and was sent to the criminal lab for a ballistic match, according to the second source.

The police official said investigations are ongoing.