Yellow Dogs shooting: US-Iranian band members killed in NY

The shooting took place in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of New York's Brooklyn borough, known for its edgy, artistic atmosphere

Four Iranian-expatriate musicians living in Brooklyn, New York, have been shot dead in what authorities are labelling a murder-suicide.

Three musicians, two of whom were members of a group called the Yellow Dogs, were slain by a fellow musician who later took his own life. Another man was wounded and taken to hospital.

Police are unsure what prompted the attack early on Monday.

The unnamed suspect is said to be a member of another band.

All involved are said to be Iranian nationals residing in the US.

Police arrived at a Brooklyn townhouse early on Monday to discover a 27-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the chest on the first storey.

A 35-year-old man and another man of undetermined age were found on the second storey, both shot in the head.

A 22-year-old band member wounded in the arm was transported to a local hospital and is said to be in stable condition.

'Really nice guys'

Two of the victims were brothers and members of the Yellow Dogs, who described themselves on their Twitter feed as "a Post Punk/Dance Punk band from Tehran/IRAN, living in Brooklyn at the moment".

Another person killed was also a musician but was not a part of the Yellow Dogs, band manger Ali Salehezadeh told the Associated Press news agency. The band's bass player and singer were not at home at the time of the killings.

The body of the man believed to be the gunman was found on the roof of the building with what authorities described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

A rifle was found next to his body, according to media reports.

Contrary to reports in the New York news media, the suspected gunman was not a member of the Yellow Dogs but of another band, reports Bahman Kalbasi of the BBC Persian service.

The Yellow Dogs were well-known among young Iranian expatriates in the US, says our correspondent.

Mr Salehezadeh said the gunman knew the victims but had not spoken to them in months because of a "petty conflict".

"There was a decision not to be around each other," he said. "They were never that close to begin with. We thought it was all behind us."

The shooting took place in the East Williamsburg neighbourhood of New York's Brooklyn borough, known for its edgy, creative vibe and community of artists and musicians. The band members had lived in the neighbourhood.

"They seem like really nice guys," a local man, Martin Greenman, told the New York Daily News.

"They didn't seem to be in any way to be violent guys. They weren't rabble rousers or anything like that."

Mr Salehezadeh said the victims' relatives were stunned.

"People don't own guns in Iran," he said. "We don't have this problem there. It doesn't exist."

Members of an Iranian band with the same name were interviewed by US consulate officials in Istanbul in 2009 as they applied for a visa for a US tour, according to a diplomatic cable leaked to Wikileaks.

They described the "small but crazy" underground rock scene in Tehran, saying it was the community that offered "the most free expression" in Iran.