Zahia “Zee” Kassem, a 25-year-old woman of Palestinian heritage, was killed on January 21, 2024, inside her family's home in Tinley Park, Illinois. Police were called just after 11:20 a.m. to the 7400 block of West 173rd Place, where they found four women fatally shot in the lower level of the house: Zahia; her twin sister, Halema, also 25; their younger sister, Hanan, 24; and their mother, Majeda. Responding officers recovered a firearm at the scene and secured a single suspect. Authorities and local officials described the scene as an isolated, domestic-related tragedy that shook the southwest suburban community.
Investigators and prosecutors said the family's father and husband, 63-year-old Maher Kassem, called 911 and met officers at the door. In body-worn camera accounts described in court, he told police “four people shot” and said “I'm going to jail,” before directing officers to the victims and where to find two guns—a. 38 revolver with spent casings and a 9mm pistol. The couple's 19-year-old son, who was home and was not injured, told authorities he heard a heated argument about money escalate into gunfire; in court, prosecutors said each daughter suffered gunshot wounds to the head and their mother was shot multiple times.
Maher Kassem was arrested at the scene and later charged with four counts of first-degree murder. A judge ordered him held in custody pending further proceedings, citing the danger to the public and his surviving son. Reporting in the days after the attack noted the family's Palestinian and Muslim heritage, and mourners gathered for funeral services at a local mosque as friends and neighbors remembered the young women as bright, ambitious students. The next court date was set for mid-February as the community continued to grieve.
