Displaying items by tag: murder

On his third day of high school, the parents of 17-year-old Sharoon Masih learned that he had been in a fight and had been taken to hospital. They rushed to the hospital but found he was dead. His school friends said he died in the classroom. Police said that another student at the Punjab school kicked Sharoon in the stomach and that he died of internal injuries. The student charged in his death now awaits trial, but police are not calling the attack a hate crime. Many suspect the teenager was targeted because he was a Christian. Christians are regularly discriminated against in education, employment and housing. Sharoon’s parents want to know what happened and why no-one saved him. He wanted to be a lawyer, and was to start as an apprentice at a lawyer’s office after completing high school. Sharoon’s father has stopped sending his six other children to school because he does not feel they will be safe.

In a highly biased legal system where Christians are normally denied fair trials, the family of a Christian youth killed by police may actually receive justice. Six officers were charged with murder after they dragged Arslan Masih out of his schoolroom, intent on revenge. He had successfully fought a Muslim boy who had been bullying him, and one officer, the boy’s uncle, found it unacceptable that Arslan had stood up to his nephew. Arslan was regularly bullied and in this instance fought in an attempt to stop the daily torment and attempts to convert him to Islam. He is not the first Christian to have died in Pakistan’s police custody, but it is the first time it has happened with many witnesses.

On 15 June Jacob Stockdale, 25, allegedly used a shotgun to kill his mother and younger brother at his family's farm in Ohio. When deputies went to investigate, he shot himself, and is now in a critical condition in hospital. His oldest brother Calvin said: ‘I don't know why Jacob did what he did, but I do know he is my brother; I speak for our family when I say we love him and forgive him. The prayers and support for my family have been deeply appreciated and we ask for continued prayers for Jacob's healing - body, mind, and spirit.’ The reasons for the shooting are not clear. The Stockdale family are members of the Zion Reformed Church, part of the Presbyterian Church in America, The church is now accepting donations to help the family, and already more than half the $40,000 goal has been raised.