Murder-suicide claims Ethiopian runner's parents, sister

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - The brother in-law of prominent Ethiopian distance runner Leila Aman shot and killed Aman’s parents and sister on Monday during an apparent domestic dispute in the town of Assela, located about 175 kilometers of the country’s capital Addis Ababa, according to sources close to the family.

The sources said the incident took place in the home of Leila’s father Aman Tola following an altercation between Leila Aman’s youngster sister Zeyni and her husband of two years. They said the husband, whose name was not provided, was a police officer deployed in the nearby Bale district. The sources said he shot his wife and her parents with a rifle at around 8 p.m. and then killed himself. Zeyni Aman and her mother died before paramedics arrived on the scene. Tola died on the way to hospital.


“It is a really shocking incident and we are all disturbed,” said Kassim Adilo, a cousin of Leila Aman and husband to 2009 Houston Marathon women’s champion Teyiba Erkesso.


Arsi District police did not comment when asked about the incident.

Leila Aman, 31, ran a personal best 2:27:54 and finished fifth at the 2004 Berlin marathon. She was second in the 2003 Abebe Bikila International Marathon, one of only two marathons held annually in Ethiopia.


Leila Aman was unavailable to comment. She trains with a group of Ethiopian runners based in Addis Ababa and is coached by Hadji Adilo, who manages the Ethiopian operations of agent Hussein Makke. The Adilo family comprises one of Ethiopia’s largest running dynasties.

“Many of us [the training group] were in Addis to prepare for our marathons and it would really be difficult for us to get through this,” said Kassim Adilo, who won the 2008 Eurasia marathon and has run a personal best 2:10:20.

Erkesso is scheduled to run in the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 11 and Adilo plans to run the Istanbul marathon on October 18.