Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Nov 11, 2013 13:21:01 GMT -6
The bassist for a Brooklyn-based indie rock band of Iranian exiles known as The Yellow Dogs allegedly shot his three bandmates dead early this morning.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Raefe Akhbar had recently been kicked out of the group for selling equipment without permission, apparently leading to the events which claimed the lives of his bandmates, including singer Ali Eskandarian (known as Obaash), guitarist Soroush Farazmand (Looloosh) and drummer Arash Farazmand.
According to officials, the gunman showed up at 318 Maujer St. in the north Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick carrying a Century Sporter .308-caliber semi-automatic weapon with a 20-round magazine. He first shot and wounded a man standing outside the apartment building. The gunman then headed inside, where he fatally shot two people on the first floor and one (who was in his bed) on the third.
The suspect then climbed to the building's roof, where he committed suicide.
The New York Post is reporting that he also fired into a first floor bathroom where two other residents were hiding, though these individuals were unharmed. According to The New York Times, a 22-year old man shot outside the building was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the right arm.
Yellow Dogs formed in Tehran, Iran in 2006 after meeting in a skate park. "They're like my brothers," Obaash said in a CNN interview about musicians being persecuted in Iran for defying Islamic laws. They were featured in the award-winning 2009 documentary No One Knows About Persian Cats, a film about underground music culture in Tehran, which brought attention to them that made living in Iran more difficult. "The movie won a Cannes prize and exploded, and after that we thought, 'Yeah, it's time to get the hell out of here,'" Obaash told PRI earlier this year.
The group traveled to the United States in 2010 on artist visas and were later granted asylum. They lived together in Bushwick along with other exiles, including Iranian street artists Icy and Sot, who Billboard has been unable to reach for comment. It is unclear whether either of them were injured in the shootings.
In an interview posted online in August 2012, Icy and Sot and The Yellow Dogs spoke about the lack of creative freedom in Iran. "Whatever type of genre it is, if it makes you feel something, that's wrong," an unidentified member said.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Raefe Akhbar had recently been kicked out of the group for selling equipment without permission, apparently leading to the events which claimed the lives of his bandmates, including singer Ali Eskandarian (known as Obaash), guitarist Soroush Farazmand (Looloosh) and drummer Arash Farazmand.
According to officials, the gunman showed up at 318 Maujer St. in the north Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick carrying a Century Sporter .308-caliber semi-automatic weapon with a 20-round magazine. He first shot and wounded a man standing outside the apartment building. The gunman then headed inside, where he fatally shot two people on the first floor and one (who was in his bed) on the third.
The suspect then climbed to the building's roof, where he committed suicide.
The New York Post is reporting that he also fired into a first floor bathroom where two other residents were hiding, though these individuals were unharmed. According to The New York Times, a 22-year old man shot outside the building was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the right arm.
Yellow Dogs formed in Tehran, Iran in 2006 after meeting in a skate park. "They're like my brothers," Obaash said in a CNN interview about musicians being persecuted in Iran for defying Islamic laws. They were featured in the award-winning 2009 documentary No One Knows About Persian Cats, a film about underground music culture in Tehran, which brought attention to them that made living in Iran more difficult. "The movie won a Cannes prize and exploded, and after that we thought, 'Yeah, it's time to get the hell out of here,'" Obaash told PRI earlier this year.
The group traveled to the United States in 2010 on artist visas and were later granted asylum. They lived together in Bushwick along with other exiles, including Iranian street artists Icy and Sot, who Billboard has been unable to reach for comment. It is unclear whether either of them were injured in the shootings.
In an interview posted online in August 2012, Icy and Sot and The Yellow Dogs spoke about the lack of creative freedom in Iran. "Whatever type of genre it is, if it makes you feel something, that's wrong," an unidentified member said.