WEST HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. -- A murder in a quiet Lancaster county neighborhood has left the community shaken up.
“Last night I was chilling in my room and all of the sudden I hear like three shots and like at first I thought it was like fireworks because you know fourth of July was like not that long ago," said Alyeza Dizon, neighbor.
Alyeza Dizon says she witnessed the murder of 48-year-old Ghada Saleb, who was shot multiple times by her ex-boyfriend, 55-year-old Dawood Al-Barwari who had been stalking her.
“And then I look out the window and I see this red car and it’s looking at something and it just drives away and it turns out it was a dead body," Dizon added.
Al-barwari, who was driving a red Ford SUV, drove off and was found 10 hours later in a Manheim Township Walmart parking lot off of Fruitville Pike in Lancaster County.
He had a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
“At least for the past year, he had been stalking her, trying to get in touch with her, trying to rekindle whatever they had before, which she was not interested in doing, but he was persistent to this point unfortunately," said Brett Hambright, Lancaster County District Attorneys Office.
Police say Al-barwari dated Saleb for about a year back in 2016.
He was also a former member of the Iraqi military.
“She had reason to be afraid of him to the point where she didn’t want to go to police because she feared how he might react to that and her fear was known to her family and beyond," said Hambright. “He essentially was parked in his vehicle in the complex for several hours essentially staking it out, waiting for her to get home and then got out of the vehicle, confronted her and killed her," he added.
“Domestic violence is prevalent in this county, it’s prevalent everywhere and if someone around you is believed to be a victim of domestic violence and has come forward with information about that, that information should go beyond a neighbor, friend or relative," said Hambright.
Police are still working to determine in the same gun used in the murder was used in the suicide.
Saleb leaves behind two adult children.
