Band dispute leads to murder-suicide in Brooklyn

A rock musician, angered after being dropped by his band, shot to death three men in Brooklyn early Monday, including two brothers who fled Iran seeking music stardom in the U.S. The gunman then killed himself, police said, adding that an assault rifle was found near his body.

The NYPD identified the shooter as Ali Akbar Mohammadi Rafie, 29, of Ridgewood, Queens.

The brothers, a guitarist and drummer in indie band The Yellow Dogs, were identified by the NYPD as Arash Farazmand, 28, and Soroush Farazmand, 27. The other victim shot and killed in the Williamsburg row house was identified by police as Ali Eskandarian, 35.

Rafie took his own life on the roof, police said.

Rafie had been angry and depressed after being kicked out of the Free Keys, another Iranian band, last year, "apparently over stealing money," a police spokesman said.

Shortly after midnight, Rafie went on a shooting spree with an assault rifle through the building on 318 Maujer Street, firing through third-floor windows first to kill the first victim and then getting inside the building, where he killed the other two, police said. 

He wounded another man, who was released from Elmhurst Hospital in Brooklyn yesterday, police said. 

The assault rifle used in the shooting was purchased in upstate New York in 2006, and it was imported from outside the U.S, the commissioner said.

A man and woman, who were inside the building during the incident, were unharmed as they hid in a room, Kelly said. The pair, who are Coast Guard members visiting the city, were taken to a Coast Guard facility after cops showed up at the building.