Upstate New York: A Pakistani Man Named Abbas Lodhi Murders His Entire Family

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HYDE PARK — The last time they saw him, business owners who knew Abbas Lodhi say he seemed content.“He was happy,” Shirley Lansing, co-owner of L&L Assembly on Violet Avenue here, said of the Hyde Park pharmacist police say shot his wife and two sons before killing himself.Lodhi, 49, and his younger son, Zain Lodhi, 9, were found dead of gunshot wounds in a car in front of a Pleasant Valley supermarket Thursday, state police said. His elder son, Mujtabah Lodhi, 13, was found dead at the family residence in Pleasant Valley later that day.And on Friday, his wife, Sarwat Lodhi, 43, was found dead of a gunshot wound on Route 376 in Wappinger.Police described the incident as a murder-suicide.There were few signs of family strife, say the business owners who operated next to Hyde Park Pharmacy, a small, unassuming storefront in Haviland Shopping Center.State records show the business was established Jan. 26, 2010, and that Abbas Lodhi was licensed as a pharmacist in 1993. His license was current through March 31, 2014.“Great neighbor,” said Mark DeLucca, co-owner of Haviland Auto Repair. “Good customer. Very friendly.”Not as much is known about the victims, Sarwat, Mujtabah and Zain Lodhi.Sarwat Lodhi was a homemaker and was not employed, state police said.Abbas Lodhi enrolled his two sons in the Sunday Islamic School at the Al-Noor Mosque on All Angels Hill Road in the Town of Wappinger about two months ago, said Nasir Mahmood, who attends the mosque regularly.His two sons attended school in the Arlington Central School District. Mujtabah Lodhi was an eighth-grader at LaGrange Middle School. Zain Lodhi was in fourth grade at Joseph D’Aquanni West Road Intermediate School.Counseling was available Friday for all Arlington students, Superintendent Brendan Lyons said. Lyons said Arlington staff and students described Zain as a personable, hardworking student who was always smiling. Mujtabah Lodhi was described as kind, funny and athletic and was planning to try out for the basketball team, Lyons saidMahmood, who owns Pine Plains Pharmacy in Pine Plains, said he met Abbas Lodhi when he came to the area to open the pharmacy in Hyde Park.“He asked for advice and guidance,” Mahmood said.He said Abbas Lodhi seemed happy when he sold his pharmacy a few weeks ago and was thinking about opening another pharmacy.Jean McArthur, owner of Pay-less Oil and McArthur’s Wine and Liquors a few doors down from the pharmacy, said she knew the boys’ father as an “average guy trying to make a living.”“I am really in shock,” she said. “That’s not the same person that I knew from working with him in the business community. We just don’t know what goes on behind closed doors in their home life.”The business owners said Abbas Lodhi appeared committed to his family’s well-being. They said the family relocated from Goshen, Orange County, to Pleasant Valley because the long hours and commute were keeping him from his sons. Sometimes he slept at the pharmacy before the move, they said.“He was always complaining that he was not spending enough time with his kids,” Shirley Lansing said.They said he expanded into a vacant, neighboring store and did well selling prescriptions. But the retail business did not keep pace, they said. About three weeks ago he sold his business, they said. Inside the locked storefront, the shelves were bare.“He said he was in good shape financially,” said Melvin Lansing, Shirley’s husband and co-owner of L&L Assembly, next door to the pharmacy. “He made a profit on his house. He made money selling his business. He seemed happy.”Melvin Lansing said there was one possible sign of problems. He said Abbas Lodhi confided in him that his wife was suffering from “mental issues.”“He did tell me a few months ago that his wife had some type of mental issues. He was having concerns about that,” Melvin Lansing said.The Lansings said Abbas Lodhi had entertained the thought of moving back to Pakistan to be closer to family. They said he also was deeply saddened by the death of his father from cancer earlier this year.However, McArthur and the Lansings said Abbas Lodhi also was considering working as a pharmacist again, this time in LaGrangeville.“What could be so wrong in somebody’s life?” McArthur said. “I don’t understand it.”

THOUGH HER BODY WAS FOUND THE NEXT DAY, THE WIFE IS CONSIDERED A VICTIM.