Santa Monica Victims: Samir and Christopher Zawahri

John Zawahri’s first victims of his Friday rampage in Santa Monica were his own father and brother.

Samir Zawahri, 55, and Christopher Zawahri, 25, were shot and killed at their Yorkshire Avenue home and their house set on fire before Zawahri continued his shooting spree.

Sources told the Los Angeles Times that Zawahri had been upset by his parents' divorce.

While no court records have been found to date detailing a divorce, records do indicate that Samir and his wife Randa Abdou, 54 purchased the 2036 Yorkshire Ave. house in 2003.

Court records also reveal that in 1998, Abdou took out a temporary restraining order against her husband for domestic violence. According to LA Late, "Case number SD014315 may have been withdrawn thereafter because no proceeding was ever held in the matter before a Santa Monica Court judge. Even though the case was never adjudicated, the docket erroneously lists the matter as still 'pending.'"

On the blog The Spirit of Truth, one reader posting under the name TTGEOTT stated that Abdou no longer lived at the Yorkshire Avenue home and that she, in fact, resided at 3527 S. Centinela Ave., Apt. 6, which is where LAPD were dispatched on Friday afternoon following the shootings because of a “possible connection” between John Zawahri and that apartment.

TTGEOTT also listed the following information about the family, “The family is Jordanian, members of the "Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church" Both of the sons were born in the 1980s in Los Angeles. The family has connections in Akron, Ohio.”

FCC records also show that Samir Zawahri had held an amateur HAM radio license since 2005. In 1999, he was also listed as the "Refreshment Manager" of the Baldwin Hills Amateur Radio Club. 

TGEOTT listed the birth dates of John and Christopher as follows:

Name: Christopher Samir Zawahri

Birth: 6 Aug 1987 - Los Angeles, California

Name: John Samir Zawahri

Birth: 8 Jun 1989 - Los Angeles, California 

Neighbors of the Zawahris in Santa Monica who spoke Friday with Patch editors Jessica Davis and Matthew Sanderson shared what they knew of the father and son.

Yvonne Killeen, who lives nearby, said she knew Samir.

"I knew the man," Killeen said. "I used to see him everyday." She added that he always said hello and that the house never drew attention.

Tom O'Rourke said he spoke to both Samir and his son, Chris, and felt comfortable enough to ask him for a cup of sugar or anything else he needed.

"He was very cordial to me," O'Rourke said of Samir. "The son, Chris, we were on the bus, laughing and joking and having a good old time."

O’Rourke said of the violence: "It was not in keeping with their character."

Neal Tracy posted on The Spirit of Truth blog: “I used to go to Sunday school with to [sic] Lebanese boys who lived on that street, Chris and John Zawahri. When I made the connection it left me sick. After some Google searches of 'zawahri' and 'santa monica' I came across this. You pretty much confirmed what I had already believed. Lord, please don't let this be true.”

Both John and Chris attended Santa Monica High School and were enrolled in Santa Monica College as recently as 2010.