He turned as much as his ex’s house as Santa to shock his children. Then he killed all of them

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The quaint town of Grapevine is known as the Christmas Capital of Texas – a place that is transformed each year into a festive winter wonderland known for its holiday extravaganza.

A family had just finished unwrapping presents on Christmas morning 2011 at a home in the Dallas suburb, when one of their own, dressed in a Santa Claus suit, opened fire in a brutal murder-suicide rampage.

Police arrived on the scene to find seven bodies among scattered wrapping paper.

Aziz Yazdanpanah, 56, an Iranian-born father of two, had killed his estranged wife, their two teenage children, his wife’s sister, his brother-in-law and his niece at the gathering.

Just minutes earlier, his niece, 22-year-old Sara Fatemeh Zarei, texted her boyfriend when they arrived at the apartment that morning.

“Soo we’re here. We just got here and my uncle is here too. Dressed as Santa. Awesome,” she said in one text just before 11 a.m. She texted again at 11:15 a.m., saying: “Now he wants to be all fatherly and win father of the year.”

Within 20 minutes, six family members had been fatally gunned down.

The man in the red and white Santa suit called 911 to report the murders – and then turned the gun on himself.

Police arrived at the horrific scene at the Lincoln-Vineyards Apartments three minutes after Yazdanpanah made the 911 call.

Grapevine police Sgt. Robert Eberling said police kicked in the door and found seven bodies among the opened gifts and scattered wrapping paper in the living room.

A television was on and one of the victims was wearing pajamas, according to reports at the time.

Yazdanpanah had shot and killed his estranged wife, Fatemeh Rahmati, 55, their 14-year-old son, Ali, and their 19-year-old daughter, Nona.

He also killed his wife’s sister, Zohreh Rahmaty, 58, her husband, Mohamad Hossein Zarei, 59, and their daughter, Sahra, 22.

Yazdanpanah’s wife was shot once in the head and his brother-in-law was shot multiple times in the head, chest and stomach, a medical examiner’s report later revealed. His son, daughter, niece and sister-in-law were shot multiple times in the head.

Two handguns were found at the scene: a 9 mm that was purchased in 1996 and registered to Yazdanpanah, and a .40 caliber, police said.

“I have been with this police department for 12 years, and this is probably one of the most tragic things that I’ve certainly been involved with,” Eberling said.

One of the victims texted her boyfriend about her uncle just minutes before she and her family were gunned down at the apartment where his wife and children had been staying.

Sahra Fatemeh Zarei appeared to be annoyed that her uncle was at the gathering and that he was dressed as Santa Claus and trying to “be all fatherly.”

“Now he wants to be all fatherly and win father of the year because he [messed] up before,” her final text said, according to police.

The dislike among family members and the fact that Yazdanpanah was apparently told he wasn’t welcome to the gathering may have been the final breaking point, family friend Marc Beglari told police, according to records obtained by The Dallas Morning News.

Beglari, who is also from Iran, told police that he spoke to Yazdanpanah on Christmas Eve, and that Yazdanpanah had told him that “his sister-in-law had control over his wife and children and they would listen to her when she called him evil.”

But despite this, Yazdanpanah was planning to attend the Christmas morning gathering that was being hosted by his estranged wife’s sister despite feeling unwelcome.

“They denied him his pride,” Beglari said. “They took his family away.”

A recording of a 911 call captured the chilling last words of the gunman who admitted to the dispatcher that he was shooting people.

After slaughtering six people, Yazdanpanah made the call at 11:34 a.m. where he was heard saying “help” twice and then “I am shooting people,” followed by heavy breathing before the line went dead and he shot himself.

Police believe that before Yazdanpanah killed himself, he tried to stage the scene by placing one of the two guns used in the hand of his slain brother-in-law, Mohamad Zarei.

But investigators determined that Zarei had been shot with both weapons and that Yazdanpanah was the only one to fire the guns. Eberling said police believe he was “overwhelmed” and “decided to take his life instead.”

Santa’s motive

Eberling has said that detectives believe Yazdanpanah’s marital and financial troubles led him to kill his family, but have also said his exact thought process may never be known.

Yazdanpanah was a former real estate professional who was out of work at the time of the killings. In 1996, he was placed on three years’ probation after pleading guilty to one count of subscribing to a false income tax return, according to federal court records. He was fined $1,000 and required to pay $30,119 in restitution.

In August 2010, Yazdanpanah and his wife filed jointly for bankruptcy. Mashy Modjdehi, a friend of Yazdanpanah’s wife, said Yazdanpanah had always forbidden his wife to work. But once he was unemployed and their family’s financial troubles intensified, he changed his mind.

Rahmati, who had a state cosmetology license, held down jobs at two spas as she continued to raise their children, the friend said.

In April 2011, just  months before the shooting, Rahmati moved out of the family’s home in Colleyville, and into the apartment complex two miles away.

Yazdanpanah remained in the Colleyville home, which was often without electricity as he continued to struggle financially.

The massacre remains the deadliest crime in the history of Grapevine.

“We never really have encountered a situation with this many victims that were shot and killed,” Eberling said at the time. “This is the worst homicide we’ve ever had.”

Source: independent.co.uk