A 68-year-old Grandfather kills himself and his family – son, and two grandchildren, by setting fire in the house

A sad incident took place in a two-story brick building, above a convenience store that served as a Tavern before in Steelton, Pennsylvania, last Friday. The incident took four lives – Jafar Afshar – a 68-year-old male, Saeed Afshar – a 36-year-old male, and his two children – 8 years old son and 5 years old daughter, whose names are not revealed.

The neighbors and the passing-by people reported a blaze coming out of the apartment on Friday at 6 am. All the victims are of the same family, Jafar being a father to Saeed and grandfather to Saeed’s two children. The investigation suggests that Afshar set the fire in his house using accelerants while his son and grandchildren were asleep. However, the authorities are confused as to which accelerants he used.

Upon investigation, Graham Hetrick, Dauphin County Coroner reported that Jafar Afshar had “some indications of abnormal behavior” before he set the apartment on fire but wasn’t sure why he did it. Moreover, he also refrained from giving further explanations.

Hetrick himself was confused as, why a 68-year-old would set fire and kill his family all of a sudden. Moreover, the fire spread so rapidly that it didn’t give the victims a chance to save themselves. As per the reports, the victims were asleep, while the incident occurred; this means that the smoke would have sedated the already sleeping individuals due to the presence of Carbon monoxide.

The final report made by the authorities ruled the 68 years old, Jafar’s death as a suicide, while the death of his son and grandchildren was a homicide. The medical reports of the victims also suggest that all of the deaths, other than Jaffar’s, occurred due to the fumes inhaled before taking their last breath. On the other hand, Jaffar also had major thermal burns and other complications.

The Mayor of Steelton, Maria Romano Marcinko, conveyed her sorrow and condolence with a heartfelt message, “They are part of our town and part of our heart and that just goes to show there are many people grieving about this.”. Other community members also gathered at Mohn Park on Sunday to pay homage to the departed souls.