Murder-suicide in Howard County claims the lives of four family members

Police in Howard County, Maryland, on Friday released new details about a murder-suicide that occurred Thursday evening at a home in Elkridge.

On Thursday around 10 p.m., police responded to reports of shots fired at a residence in the 6900 block of Norwood Ferry.

According to police, the suspect, identified as 61-year-old Nayyar Syed, committed suicide after shooting four of his family members, killing three of them.

“We will examine phone records and text messages and see if we can find any additional information about what led up to this,” said Sherry Llewellyn, spokeswoman for Howard County police.

The victims included the suspect’s 57-year-old wife Syeda Nayyar, his 25-year-old daughter Syeda Fatima and his 33-year-old daughter-in-law Alizey Fatima.

Muhammad Hamza, Syed’s 31-year-old son, was taken to hospital with critical injuries.

The suspect’s three-month-old granddaughter was in the house but was unharmed. She was examined at the hospital and will be placed in the care of a family member, according to police.

“With the exception of the suspect, everyone involved in this incident lived in the home,” Llewellyn said, adding that there were no signs of a violent break-in.

Investigators said Syed called 911 before committing suicide and confessed to shooting his family. He was taken to a hospital where he later died.

The investigation is ongoing.

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