I usually don't like to write about this type of thing... especially, on a Friday when I like to keep things kinda "smurfy" over here. What I'm about to tell you sounds like one of my potboiling fiction stories on my other blog, "Escapades" but unfortunately, I didn't make this story up. It's true and it puts yet another black eye on the city of Philadelphia.
Two days ago, in what should have been just another normal day for 35 year old Angela Jeffreys, a tragedy ocurred. She got her 11 year old daughter ready for school and her daughter was sitting on the passenger side of the car.. Neither one of them knew at the time that they were being watched.
45 year old Aleem Ali, Angela's estranged lover, approached her from the passenger side of the car and shot her several times. She was killed and her 11 year old daughter witnessed the entire thing. Then, Aleem turned the pistol on himself. He fired one shot and now, he was dead on the sidewalk. This wasn't just any old run of the mill murder-suicide (if there is such a thing). It gets better or worse, depending on how you choose to look at it.
Aleem and Angela had been seeing each other for seven years. Then, Aleem married Angela's supervisor and fathered a baby (now 18 months)with his wife. From what is being said, his wife found out about the affair and asked him to break it off. Angela was trying to break it off but, Aleem would not stop trying to see her.
A week before the tragic murder-suicide, Angela had called the police and they told her to get a restraining order. I can tell you from personal experience that they are not worth the paper they are written on. I had to get a restraining order against someone once and while I was in court getting a judge to hear me out... the person I was getting the restraining against was at my house!
The police drop the ball on these cases too many times and their unwillingness to do anything to the stalker makes it easy for them to do whatever they want to their victims with impunity. I don't want to sound like some right wing zealot but, sometimes it does seem as though the bad guys have more rights than the victims.
Angela never got a restraining order. Perhaps she tried and got just as frustrated as I did and said, "Oh, forget about it!" Well, it doesn't matter now... she's dead and her spurned and married lover, who just had to have her, is also dead. The taxpayers have been spared a long murder trial and the price of keeping him locked up as a guest of the state of Pennsylvania for the rest of his natural life or until they decided to poke him with a needle.
The losers in all of this... Angela Jeffreys, of course... her traumatized 11 year old daughter who was unharmed (at least physically)... Aleem's new wife, who probably will never know what to make of this mess... and an 18 month old baby who will never know their father. Years from now, can you imagine telling this child just how their father died? I wouldn't want that job.
Opinionated Diva wrote a post the other day about the perils of work place romances. Well, here was a work place romance in extreme. All three people in this sordid triangle worked for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services... and yes, if you're wondering, all three were African-American (not that this couldn't happen to anyone of any race or class). Love is just plain insane sometimes... regardless of what you look like or how much money you have.
26 comments:
This is very unfortunate...and sadly a story that has happened many times before...
Lately alot of your posts have been on pretty heavy incidences..so i've been hesitant to post lol asking you to come and support me as woman of the week on a fellow bloggers site :) lol..but i guess no time like the present..the link is at the top of my blog! :) i'd love it if ya did!! :)
Have a great weekend Keith!!
@Jillian- Sure thing!
Hey Keith, I've seen and read these stories repeatedly for the past 19 years or so. I was also a victim of Domestic Violence. My daughter's father threw a homemade alcohol cocktail through my bedroom window after I broke up with him. He served a year in jail. I can't begin to imagine my daughter growing up w/out me.
Thanks for bringing awareness, but I see no end to this kind of sick abuse.
Love for a great day!
This is so very sad to hear and i can't help but to sympathize about her young daughter and how this will affect the rest of her life. There seems to be a rash of murder-suicides happening across this great nation, a horrible trend and it frankly leaves me quite afraid. Since i am/was/will be dating...i sometimes wonder about the mental capacity of my new friends. I have cut off some folks just because they seemed a little to obsessed, way too early.
This is so sad,yet so common place
Keith.
I used to live around there, where that happened...So sad.
Thanks again for making the public aware of Domestic abuse and the inneffectiveness of the justice system.
This was sooo sad..such a timely post!
Great Read and such a true message.
As a woman,I thank you for this post and the other ones you've done highlighting domestic abuse.
As the victim of a stalker I feel for this woman..I know just how she
must've felt...Thanks for writing this.
I heard about this..such a sad occurence...Good post once again,Keith.
Man, that was messed up! Good lookin out Keith!
Very Timely indeed..The frequency of this kind of violence speaks of the general feeling of hopelessness going around the nation right now. I hate to say it, but expect to see more of this type of thing.
Such a sad event...I read about this in the paper the other day.
Good Post!
I live in that area...I saw the police cars...I just didn't know what had happened.
A very sad state of events...Too much of this is happening..These murder-suicides, these mass slaughters of an entire family..What's going on?
Very unfortunate set of events..They all worked at the same place?? Dude married his girl's supervisor and they were all still working there??It's a wonder that this didn't happen sooner.
My word...What a situation...He marries the girlfriend's boss..
And people think Gay relationships are complex!!!
Wow, what a damn mess..All of em working at the same place and dude married to babe's boss...I can't believe that this situation didn't explode much sooner..That's some
mess..I can't even conceive of something like that!
"Love is just plain insane sometimes... regardless of what you look like or how much money you have."
ummm - NO. that is NOT love. that is something else...Love is intelligent. I know we usually do not associate love with intelligence. Hollywood makes love emotional. But God makes love intelligent.
Sad story...I'm sorry it happened.
I've had to get several restraining orders, and it didn't do a damn thing. This one guy followed me for five years, and to this day, I don't know how he got my information, even when I was out of the state. Sorry to say, but I have no faith in the police.
Keith,
Sad story, but it does seem sometimes the perpetrator has more rights than the victim.
My heart goes out this young man, her daughter and the rest of her family.
My heart goes out to those families. I can't imagine...
There's so much more to this story than you even scratched the surface of. he had lots of kids and lots of women. Its like something on TV. So many lives ruined. So sad.
How awful Keith what a sad story and what a big mess, my heart goes out to the daughter who witnessed the whole thing.
Im happy she was loved for 11 years and will have memories, unlike the new baby who wont remember anything about his/her daddy - though thats probably a good thing!
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