Another JW Father Murders Children?
Over the years silentlambs has reported on the consistent issue of JW father murdering their children. In JW theology they are taught that life on this earth is corrupted by Satan. Everyone and everything is tainted and thus something to be avoided. The only solution as directed by their theology is to escape to the “Paradise Earth” that God will provide after the end of the world in the immediate future. There are basically two ways to make it to the “Paradise Earth” one way it to wait for the ‘soon to come’ end of the world and survive into the “Paradise Earth” and the second way to is have an innocent death in this world to see a quick resurrection into the paradise earth. When JW father faces financial downturn, divorce, or other typical stresses that appear to make life hopeless the simple solution is to take the lives of their children. By doing so, while seeing themselves as corrupted, they are providing the “escape” to a better world and in their minds actually helping their children no longer exist in Satan’s world. It is a classic case of theology gone wrong. Sadly in many cases where children are murdered by fathers there is often a link to Jehovah’s Witness theology.
When stories of this nature appear in the news the Jehovah’s Witnesses often take covert action to see that the religion is not mentioned in relation to the story. Jorge Cruz Iraheta had definite links to Jehovah’s Witnesses yet once again JWs think they have dodged a bullet with media. At Silentlambs we report this for Jehovah’s Witnesses and the public to be informed of this reoccurring problem with fathers of JW children.
Silentlambs
Two Children Killed in Murder-Suicide in Silver Lake
By Jack Noyes
Updated 4:59 PM PST, Sat, Nov 22, 2008
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Two-Children-Murdered-Friday-Night-in-Silver-Lake.html
Names were released for the 7-year-old girl and her 9-year-old brother killed by their father, who also shot and wounded their mother in the leg before he shot and killed himself, police said.
Jorge Cruz Iraheta, 31, was estranged from his wife and reportedly subject to a restraining order when he entered his wife Marta's home in the 4200 block of Normal Avenue in Silver Lake sometime after 9 p.m. Friday. There, he shot his daughter, Ashley, his son, Andres, and his 35-year-old wife, according to Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Julianne Sohn.
He then turned the gun on himself, Sohn said.
Police initially responded to a domestic violence call at the family's home at about 8:55 p.m. Friday, Sohn said, but Iraheta was not there when they arrived.
The officers then left to search for Iraheta at another address, according to Sohn.
Roughly 50 minutes later, police began receiving calls about shots being fired and people screaming at the family's home, prompting officers to return to the Silver Lake home, Los Angeles police Capt. Paul Hernandez, III said.
When police arrived back at the Iraheta home, Marta was found shot in the leg, while her husband and their two children were declared dead at the scene.
Marta was in stable condition at a local hospital, according to Sohn. She somehow managed to escape during the flurry of violence, LAPD officer Jason Lee said earlier.
Cops Say They Followed Protocol In Murder-Suicide
Nov 23, 2008 7:33 am US/Pacific
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ? Los Angeles police stood by their actions Sunday after a 7-year-old girl and her 9-year-old brother were killed by their father, who also wounded their mother and killed himself -- after officers had been called to their Silver Lake home.
Ashley and Andres Iraheta, along with their father, Jorge Cruz Iraheta, 31, were found shot to death Friday night when officers were called to the home a second time, police said.
The children's mother, Marta Iraheta, 35, was found wounded in the leg.
She was in serious condition at a hospital but is expected to survive.
Iraheta was separated from his wife and under a restraining order when he went to her home in the 4200 block of Normal Avenue Friday night, said Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Julianne Sohn.
Police were called to the home at 8:55 p.m. Friday by Marta Iraheta, who said her husband had shown up and was being aggressive, Sohn said.
Police did not find Iraheta, but after they left, he returned and opened fire on his children, wife, and then himself, police said.
"They were responding to a radio call of a domestic violence incident with a restraining order violation," Sohn said. "When officers arrived on the scene there they actually tried to see if the suspect was there and he was not."
"The officers were very diligent in their search," Officer Sam Park said.
Neighbors complained that an officer should have stayed near the house to protect the family, but Park said that the officers followed protocol.
"Our officers don't separate, whenever they do any sort of investigation or searches they're always together," Park said.
He said standard procedure is for officers to "lock the house and we make sure they don't, you know, open the door for the person or anyone else, and then we start looking for the individual."
About 50 minutes after officers left to search for Iraheta at another address, police began receiving calls about shots being fired and people screaming at the residence, prompting officers to return to the home, said Los Angeles police Capt. Paul Hernandez III.
"He shot his two children, and he also shot his wife, and then he shot himself," Sohn said.
Neighbors said the family had recently rented a home in the neighborhood, and that they were shocked by the violence.
"That broke my heart, everybody's heart," neighbor Carmen Barnay said. "Last night I (couldn't) sleep because my heart is painful about this. I feel bad for the children -- especially for the children. "
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Silver Lake man kills 2 children, self; estranged wife wounded
Police say Jorge Cruz Iraheta killed his son, 9, and daughter, 7, before shooting himself. His estranged wife is hospitalized after being shot in the leg.
By Ruben Vives
11:31 AM PST, November 22, 2008
A 30-year-old Silver Lake man shot and killed his two young children, wounded his estranged wife, then killed himself Friday night, authorities said today.
They said the man, Jorge Cruz Iraheta, and his estranged wife, Marta Iraheta, argued early Friday evening. The man had violated a restraining order by confronting his wife, police said.
Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division initially responded to a domestic dispute at a single-family home about 9 p.m. in the 4200 block of Normal Avenue, near Virgil Avenue, said LAPD Officer Julianne Sohn.
Sohn said that Iraheta had fled from the home by the time officers arrived and that police went to search for him.
About 10 p.m. officers were sent back to the house after another call for help to police. Sohn said Iraheta had shot his wife in the leg but she managed to escape. Then, Sohn said, Iraheta shot and killed his 9-year-old son, Andres, and 7-year-old daughter, Ashley, before turning the gun on himself.
All three were pronounced dead at the scene, Sohn said. Marta Iraheta was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where she was in stable condition this morning.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Rampart homicide detectives at (213) 484-3635.
Vives is a Times staff writer.