Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Body of American teacher killed by own student buried in Sulaimaniyah's Christians Cemetry


The body of the American teacher, Jeremiah Small, who was shot dead by one of his students at Sulaimaniyah’s private Medes School, was buried in the city’s Christians cemetery.

The burial was attended by dozens of Mr Small’s friends and students as well as hid family who landed in Erbil International Airport on Sunday and arrived in Sulaimaniyah the next day.

Authorities said earlier this week before the arrival of Small’s family that the body would be sent home as soon as his family arrives.

But the family of Small said, upon their arrival in the city that they wanted to have their son buried in Sulaimaniyah’s Christians Cemetery.

On March 1st, 18-year-old Bayar Sarwar, shot Jeremiah Small four times before shooting himself once on the head. Police forces said there was an issue between the student and the teacher without making it clear what kind of issue.

Sarwar’s friends described him as a smart student and Mr Small as a good teacher and good person. They could not explain why Sarwar would want to kill his teacher.


The motivation for the murder-suicide remains a mystery so far. Police have said the investigations are still ongoing.


All the photos below have been taken from Hawlati Newspaper's Website (www.hawlati.co)