Neighbors and family members described the man behind Tuesday’s hostage situation at an Amarillo Walmart as a longtime resident, part of a quiet family who didn’t come across as violent. Amarillo police said Mohammad Moghaddam, 54, fired shots and held two hostages at gunpoint at Walmart, 4215 Canyon Dr., before Amarillo Police Department SWAT officers shot and killed him.

The hostage situation was described as a “workplace violence event.” The Moghaddam family came to Amarillo eight years ago from Iran, two of the family’s grown children said Tuesday at their Southeast 36th Avenue home. They said their mother, Leila Gachlou, Mohammad’s wife, also works at Walmart. READ MORE


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