Israeli man kills daughter, 9, in Texas murder-suicide

Family in Israel reportedly alerted local US police after receiving email from Yariv Kaplan outlining plan, but deputies were too late

Times of Israel

An Israeli man living in the US shot dead his nine-year-old daughter, Lielle, and then fatally shot himself at his home in southwest Travis County in Texas.

The murder-suicide was discovered by deputies on Monday when they were dispatched to the residence after being alerted by members of the man’s family in Israel.

The man was identified by US media as Yariv Kaplan, 42.

Although family members tried to alert local police, deputies did not arrive in time.

“The family alerted police, but to our great regret it was already too late,” the father said, adding that he only heard about the tragedy when he received inquiries from media.

The Travis County Sheriff’s Office said the girl’s death appeared to be a homicide while the father’s gunshot wound appeared self-inflicted, the local news Kxan website reported Wednesday.

Kaplan was reportedly going through a divorce and involved in a custody battle over his daughter. The next hearing in the case was scheduled for January. His wife was in Israel at the time of the shooting and seeking to arrange funds to bring her daughter back to the country, Hadashot news reported.

Kaplan has for the past six months served as the deputy CEO of a high-tech company in the United States, Walla said. He had previously owned a coffee shop in a central Israeli city.

His wife, Anat Levitan Kaplan, launched a crowdfunding campaign to help fly her body to Israel for burial.