According to witnesses, a dispute broke out on Thursday evening between the neighbors who lived in the same building in Ankara's Mustafa Kemal neighborhood, allegedly over repeated noise disturbances. Tehsin Unser is accused of killing Hamdi Turgut and four of his family members.
"Hamdi was a good person, he was a poor person, and he was always looking to make a living to support his children. He did no harm to anyone, but in this country, such things always happen to poor people," Turgut's friend Abuzer Erdem told Rudaw.
"Hamdi worked with me in the municipality. We used to go together. I live in the neighborhood of Fatih. He was also here, he was a harmless person,” Erdem added.
Turgut, his mother, wife, and two children were killed in the attack.
The accused murderer, Unser, has been arrested by Ankara police, who have not made any statements to the press.
Durdu D, a neighbor and eyewitness, heard the argument.
"It happened during the nighttime. The neighbors were shouting. I ran to the balcony and I saw their little girl on their balcony, shouting: 'They killed my father and my brother. They will kill us too. Help us.’ My daughter came and said, 'What's going on? Why was the girl screaming?' My daughter wanted to call the police, but that person killed everyone. It was a horrible thing," Durdu recalled.
"The assailant had carried his gun and gone to the neighboring home. Whoever came his way, he shot them, eventually killing five members of the family. We were indeed very saddened by this incident," said Hasan Erdem, a resident of the neighborhood.
The only surviving member of the Turgut family is a 4-year-old girl who is autistic.
The bodies of the five victims were buried in the Ayash district of Ankara.
