[release]A Texas medical student well-known in her community as an Iranian activist was mysteriously shot and killed in her car, just yards from her home.
Gelareh Bagherzadeh, 30, was driving through her Houston townhouse complex around midnight on Monday when she was shot dead through her car window.
"When officers arrived, they found a vehicle had run into a garage door at that location with the engine running and tires spinning on the pavement. Ms. Bagherzadeh was found slumped over in the driver's seat," the Houston Police Department said in a statement.
Authorities said nothing appeared to have been stolen from her car. Her cell phone and purse were found inside.
"Homicide investigators responded to the scene and were told by witnesses that several gunshots were heard, a crash and then tires squealing," the statement said.
Police told ABC News' Houston affiliate KTRK that the last person to speak to Bagherzadeh was her close friend and ex-boyfriend who was on the phone with her when she was shot.
"[The boyfriend] heard a loud thud. He doesn't recall hearing any gunshots, but a loud thud and then a screeching noise," Richard Bolton of the Houston Police Department Homicide unit told KTRK.
Bagherzadeh was of Iranian descent and was outspoken in promoting Iranian women's rights and criticizing the Iranian government, according to interviews she had done with the Houston Chronicle.
Photos and video from the newspaper's website show Bagherzadeh participating in a 2010 protest calling for a regime change in Iran. At the time, she requested that her name not be used in the video because she was afraid of persecution, according to the Houston Chronicle.
"It's not believed that she was targeted because of her ethnicity or because she was an activist," Houston Police Department spokesman Victor Senties told ABCNews.com.
Police don't currently believe her death was related to her activism, but the death is mysterious. Bagherzadeh's cell phone and purse were still inside.
"They're still in the process of investigating," Senties said. "We're still trying to question anyone that might know her or might know if there was someone that wanted to harm her."
Bagherzadeh was studying molecular genetic technology at the Texas Medical Center.
At about 11:45 p.m. on Monday night, Houston police responded to a discharge of firearms call at 800 August Drive. When officers arrived, they found no evidence of any shooting and left. Forty-five minutes later, they responded to a call for a shooting from 894 August Drive. Paramedics responded to the scene and pronounced her dead, according to police.
Another unexplained element is the question of why Bagherzadeh had turned her car onto a dead-end drive, in the opposite direction from her home.
"We don't know why she ended up back there on the back end. Maybe they only lived here for a short time, maybe she's unfamiliar with the property, because from what we understand from friends and relatives is she always parks on the street in front of her townhome," Bolton said.
Investigators are looking into neighborhood surveillance footage to see "if there's anything that could possibly help," Senties said.
A neighbor who did not wish to be named told ABCNews.com that the shooting was "very unusual." He has surveillance cameras outside his home and said police came to his house to collect his tapes.
"I've been living her since 1976 and never heard of anything like this before," he said. "It's a terrible, terrible thing."
Bagherzadeh's family could not be reached for comment.[/release]
[url]http://news.yahoo.com/iranian-student-activist-shot-death-texas-193747641--abc-news.html[/url]
Fishy. Very fishy.
Title made me think he was shot by Police at a protest
I hope this is not the result of someone searching a starter for a conflict, whoever it is.
Will Perry defend this too?
[QUOTE=smurfy;34278022]Title made me think she was shot by Police at a protest[/QUOTE]
ftfy
I live in houston
:tinfoil:
[QUOTE=koeniginator;34278073]I live in houston
:tinfoil:[/QUOTE]
you gonna get murdered boy run.
[QUOTE=Chicken_Chaser;34278055]Will Perry defend this too?[/QUOTE]
Of course.
well that's texas for ya
[QUOTE=Psychokitten;34278069]ftfy[/QUOTE]
When you do ftfy's you should highlight the changed part so we don't have to keep scrolling back and forth to find it.
[QUOTE=Elecbullet;34278207]When you do ftfy's you should highlight the changed part so we don't have to keep scrolling back and forth to find it.[/QUOTE]
he changed he to she.
I thought she was a Pro-Iran activist at first and that's why she was shot judging from the title.
I see I was mistaken.
[QUOTE=Elecbullet;34278207]When you do ftfy's you should highlight the changed part so we don't have to keep scrolling back and forth to find it.[/QUOTE]
Alright, I'll keep that in mind next time.
Anyone got a good suggestion for a new title?
[QUOTE=Swebonny;34278328]Anyone got a good suggestion for a new title?[/QUOTE]
What's wrong with this one? It isn't misleading. She's Iranian and a student activist and she was shot dead in Texas.
[QUOTE=Swebonny;34278328]Anyone got a good suggestion for a new title?[/QUOTE]
Include female for the people who automatically assume everyone is male.
That's the only confusion that could occur here.
i can only imagine the shooter being an Iranian spy in Texas
then it would be very ironic that Iran accuses us, but this is only a huge speculation
This could be a signal from the Iranian government that "we can kill people in your country just like you kill people in our country".
[QUOTE=YouWithTheFace.;34278161]you gonna get murdered boy run.[/QUOTE]
Your avatar doesn't fit but the boy you want to murder does :v:
The fact that she was Iranian or an activist probably had nothing to do with the murder. I'm guessing angry ex-boyfriend, or someone close to her. I feel like Galloway from L.A. Noire saying that lol
This isn't really newsworthy
It's terrible that they had to bagher. The thought of one human hating another so much is so zad, eh.
[sp]I deserve all the dumbs. I'm not good at this "pun" thing[/sp]
[QUOTE=Sand;34280305]This isn't really newsworthy[/QUOTE]
This isn't really postworthy.
On topic I don't really think the title is misleading.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;34279615]This could be a signal from the Iranian government that "we can kill people in your country just like you kill people in our country".[/QUOTE] "Blow up one of our key nuclear technicians? Yeah, well, we'll shoot a random iranian medical student! That'll show you!" - It's funny how all you have to do is mention someone is iranian or pakistani or whatever and people jump to conclusions about political killings or assassinations. As far as the American or Iranian government is concerned, she's nobody.
[QUOTE=insanox;34278192]well that's texas for ya[/QUOTE]
"Yeah guys I know [i]alls[/i] about this state I've never been to in a country I've never been to"
[QUOTE=Swebonny;34278328]Anyone got a good suggestion for a new title?[/QUOTE]
"Iranian activist not bulletproof"
:P
Actually that makes me wonder what her nationality was. Was she an Iranian studying here? Or was she an American sympathetic to the Iranians?
EDIT: Ah says of Iranian "descent". Makes her American, I imagine.
[QUOTE=Mister Sandman;34281085]"Yeah guys I know [i]alls[/i] about this state I've never been to in a country I've never been to"[/QUOTE]
Damnit the real rednecks are in jersey!
[QUOTE=GunFox;34281126]EDIT: Ah says of Iranian "descent". Makes her American, I imagine.[/QUOTE] Depends. It said she was an activist for women's rights in Iran and heavily criticized the iranian government. This, to me, suggests that she still considered it her home country because she was so interested in its domestic politics.
Could be a random cartel killing or and planned killing by an extremist right wing fundamentalist group/person, which nearly every country has.
I love how TONS of these stories about other states can go by and then just one about Texas and someone's like "Lol yup thats Texas"
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