Murder of family of six shocks Israelis

Israelis were reacting with horror to the murders of six members of a Rishon Lezion family.

Among the victims found stabbed to death Saturday in their burning home were 3-year-old and 4-month-old children.

Echoing the mood of a nation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his “deep pain and shock” over the murders of the Oshrenko family, calling the violence “horrifying” and “terrible” at the beginning of Sunday’s regular Cabinet meeting. He offered his condolences to the family, as well as to Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov, a family friend.

The members of the Oshrenko family killed were Revital, 3, and Netanel, 4 months; their parents, Tatiana, 28, and Dimitry, 32; and grandparents Edward and Ludmilla, both 56. Tatiana and Dimitry, Russian emigres, operated clubs and a restaurant for Russian Israelis.

Police on Sunday raided the restaurant in Rishon LeZion, interrogating the employees, as well as the relatives and friends of the family, as they sought answers to their murder. The investigation, which is under a media gag order, is on whether the killings are murder-suicide or if they were committed by an outsider, according to reports.

The family had celebrated Revital’s birthday on Friday night. The next morning, firefighters were called to the apartment to put out a fire and discovered the bodies upon breaking down the door to the apartment. They recognized that the victims had died from being stabbed and not due to the fire.