Mouwaffak L. Makhoul, a 51-year-old Syrian-born male from Allentown, Pennsylvania, died on September 14, 2014, in a violent incident that unfolded on East Greenleaf Street and was later ruled a murder-suicide. The case centered not only on his death, but also on the death of 36-year-old Etab Makhoul, identified in reports as his ex-wife. Their lives ended within minutes of each other on a Sunday morning outside or near Etab’s home in the 1900 block of East Greenleaf Street.
Authorities
said police were called to the scene at about 8:51 a.m. after reports of a shooting. When responders arrived, both Mouwaffak and Etab were found dead from gunshot wounds. Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim pronounced Etab dead at 9:31 a.m. and Mouwaffak dead one minute later, at 9:32 a.m. The deaths were initially investigated as a double fatal shooting, but officials later determined that Mouwaffak shot Etab and then turned the gun on himself.
The tragedy appeared to have been personal rather than random. Reports described Mouwaffak and Etab as Syrian immigrants and former spouses, placing the violence within the context of a domestic relationship that had already ended. Etab’s home on East Greenleaf Street became the final scene of a conflict whose exact motive was not publicly established. Investigators and officials did not release a clear explanation for what led Mouwaffak to go there that morning or what specifically triggered the shooting.
Because Mouwaffak was determined to have killed Etab before killing himself, there were no surviving suspects to arrest and no criminal trial or conviction followed. The case was closed publicly as a murder-suicide rather than an unsolved homicide involving an outside offender. No additional suspects were identified in available reports, and no arrests were made in connection with the deaths.
Mouwaffak’s obituary noted that he was born in Damascus, the son of Latif and Mouna Makhoul. He was survived by a son, Majad, a brother, George, several sisters, and numerous nieces and nephews. Funeral services were held at St. George Orthodox Church in Allentown, followed by burial at Laurel Cemetery in Whitehall. His death, tied inseparably to Etab’s killing, left behind both a grieving family and unanswered questions about the private turmoil that ended in violence that September morning.
