In the early morning hours of July 14, 2019, a frantic call to 911 shattered the quiet of a Chandler, Arizona neighborhood. A woman, hysterical, reported that someone had been shot. When officers arrived at the residence near Chandler Boulevard and Price Road, they found 31-year-old Elshaymaa Elmesilhy with gunshot wounds. Paramedics rushed the female victim to a nearby hospital, but tragically, she was pronounced dead.
The initial investigation revealed a domestic scene that had taken a
horrific turn. Elshaymaa's husband, 37-year-old Mustafa Hussein, told police that he had just returned home from work and was in the process of unloading his 9mm handgun when the weapon discharged, striking his wife. According to his account, he had placed the gun case on the foot of the bed where Elshaymaa was lying. Believing he had removed the magazine, he cycled the slide, ejecting a single cartridge onto the bed. He then pointed the gun in the direction of the window, behind his wife, and pulled the trigger, shooting her in the chest.
In the chaotic moments that followed, family members, including Elshaymaa's sister who was staying at the home with the couple's two young children, rushed into the room. In a state of panic, Hussein allegedly picked up the gun to demonstrate what had happened and accidentally fired a second round into the bedroom floor. It was Hussein, along with his sister-in-law, who had called 911 for help. Despite his claim that the shooting was an accident, authorities arrested Mustafa Hussein. He was subsequently booked into jail on one count of second-degree murder, as investigators determined that pointing the gun in his wife's direction and pulling the trigger was a reckless act.
