According to reports, Şafak Köksal (22) shot to death his father-in-law, Hüseyin Köroğlu (45), mother-in-law, Havva Köroğlu (45), and sisters-in-law, İlknur and Zülfiye Köroğlu (24), in a forested area in the Kıvanç neighborhood. He allegedly ambushed them in the forest as they returned from where they worked in a mine, laying a piece of wood in the road so that their car could not pass. The sisters got out of the car to remove the wood from the road, and he shot and killed them; his mother and father-in-law were shot before they were able to exit the car.Afterward, he reportedly went to the home of his in-laws, breaking a window to enter and then shot his wife, Ayşe Köksal (22), and her brother, Aydın Köroğlu (20).
Area residents say Şafak and Ayşe Köksal recently separated as a result of marital disputes, with the woman taking the couple's 5-month-old son, Doğu, and going to live with her parents. Köksal allegedly blamed their marital problems and separation on his wife's family, going so far as to recently threaten them, saying, “You ruined my home, and I am going to ruin yours.”
Following the killings, Köksal reportedly took his baby from the home and went to his own house in the Ayıcıoğlu neighborhood before going to a coffeehouse, where members of the gendarmerie took him into custody. Gendarmes also collected the rifle and handgun used in the attack. They are continuing their investigation into the murders in the forest and at the Köroğlu family home.
Çayır village head Rafet Çınar made a statement to the press concerning the incident, saying that about one month ago suspect Köksal, who worked odd jobs, had been reported to the gendarmerie for beating his wife. “Following the dispute, Köksal's wife took their child and went to her father's house. Later, there was some tension because the Köroğlus would not allow Şafak Köksal to see his son. After this, Köksal ambushed the road and home and killed six people. After the murders, he picked up his child and walked home,” he said.
According to Çınar, Köksal then called the gendarmerie and told him what he had done. “I ran into him myself at the village coffeehouse. He did not look like a man who had just killed six people; he was very calm. It was only when teams of gendarmes came to the coffeehouse to take him into custody that we learned what had happened,” he said.
