Boy, 12, Dead in Murder-Suicide Attempt, Police Say

Police in Lilburn believe the death of a 12-year-old boy and serious injuries on his father were the results of a murder-suicide attempt.

Lilburn Police said Hakan Erdem, 12, was found dead around 9:15 p.m. Monday in a pickup truck parked in the rear parking lot of First Baptist Church on Main Street. The boy had “traumatic injuries,” police said in a news release.

Also found was the boy’s father, Fikri Erdem, 47, who also had traumatic injuries, but was alive. He was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville.

“It appears ... that the father murdered his son and then attempted to take his own life,” police said in the release.

Fikri Erdem is under guard at the hospital and recovering from self-inflicted wounds. Charges are pending.

Police responded to a 911 call made by a man saying he couldn’t breathe and that he was located behind a church at Main Street and Highway 29.

Police found the pickup truck in the back corner of the lot, parked among several church vans.

Police said as the father was being taken to the hospital, a vehicle with two women in it pulled up near the scene. The woman were on their way to police headquarters to report the husband and son of one of the women, Gunes Erdem, 38, was missing. The father and son found in the parking lot were the ones they were seeking.

Investigators learned that around 7:44 p.m., the husband called his wife and left a message.

“The husband told his wife that he was sorry, to tell their daughters that it was an accident, and then he disconnected the call,” the news release stated.

The mother told police her son was a special-needs child who yelled and screamed often and needed constant care.

She also told police her husband had been been able to sleep for around 10 days.