Moshiri didn't plan to go home

Katherine Moshiri never saw it coming.

Not the violence. And not the gun.

In a telephone interview with the Southeast Missourian on Wednesday, Katherine Moshiri explained the circumstances that led to her husband's murder-suicide rampage that took the lives of her 4-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son. Bullets also pierced the skulls of 2-year-old Meghan, who remains in serious condition at a St. Louis hospital, and Katherine herself, who was shot three times in the head and once in the shoulder but ran out of the house to get help. Katherine Moshiri has since been released from the hospital.

Despite taking steps to protect herself, Katherine Moshiri said she didn't really think her husband would follow through on his threats. She said she feared more that Mir Shahin Moshiri would take her children to Iran, his homeland. Contrary to information reported by a friend, Katherine said she only contacted abuse shelters to find out her options. And she said she never planned to return home Dec. 3, the night of the shootings. She had made plans to take her children to a hotel, then have a peace officer accompany her and the children to their house to gather their belongings.

It was a video game, ultimately, that caused Katherine to return home that afternoon.

The day before the deadly shooting, Moshiri said she had finally made up her mind to leave her husband, and he was extremely upset about it.

Katherine Moshiri had prevented her husband from taking their girls to get ice cream, fearing he would flee, she said. In response, she said he would not allow her to leave the house. She didn't argue the point, she said.

The morning of Dec. 3, Moshiri awoke and told her husband she had a doctor's appointment.

She took Meghan and Madison out to lunch at Burger King that afternoon, she said.

"We played on the playground, and basically I just had a fun day with my girls," Moshiri said.

After lunch, she took her daughters to the Cape Girardeau County Court of Common Pleas, where she filed an order of protection against her husband, citing his threat to kill her if she took the children and the fact that he kept many guns in the garage. Moshiri said she filed the order not so much because she feared for her safety, but because she wanted temporary custody so her husband could not take her daughters.

She planned to pick up her son, Michael Jeffers, at the area church where he participated in a gaming club every Monday night and take her children to a hotel. But he called her that afternoon to tell her he'd gone straight home instead because he wanted to play his new "World of Warcraft" game.

'I never saw the gun'

Katherine Moshiri went home to get him, and her husband confronted her about the divorce.

"It was just a normal day, except that he knew I was headed seriously for divorce," she said.

She ushered her children downstairs and asked Jeffers to watch his sisters, because she and her husband never argued in front of them, she said.

Her husband had kissed Meghan and said, "Daddy loves you," she said.

When she returned upstairs, she said, her husband tried to return some of her jewelry and attempted to persuade her to walk over and take it. When she refused, he began shooting with a five-shot .38-caliber pistol.

"I never saw the gun," she said.

She tried to get to the phone, but her husband yanked it out of the wall.

When the firing ceased, Katherine Moshiri fled the house and ran down the street, searching for help.

A neighbor pulled over and drove her to the sheriff's department, where she was transported to the hospital. Police immediately responded to her residence, to find Madison and Mir Shahin Moshiri dead of single gunshot wounds to the head.

Jeffers was rushed to an area hospital, where he died Dec. 4. Meghan was airlifted to a St. Louis hospital, where she remains in serious condition.

"I never dreamed he would hurt my children," Moshiri said.

Yet she did inform the state that she thought she was in danger.

The 35-year-old Jackson woman said she wanted to clarify reports about her interaction with an abuse shelter. She described calls to made to local shelters Dec. 3 as "gathering information," with the goal of obtaining temporary custody of her two daughters. The shelters provided her with a list of options.

A friend said previously that an area shelter turned her away because boys older than 13 were not allowed in the communal living facility and Moshiri's son had been 16.

Moshiri said her friend had been misinformed and that the shelter offered her plenty of other choices.

"I wasn't fearing for my safety. I'm not an abused person. My children were not abused. He'd never so much as hurt our dog," she said, referring to her husband, Mir Shahin Moshiri.

Though their marriage may have had its share of problems, Mir Shahin Moshiri had been a loving father, she said.

She said he told her she wouldn't live to see another day if she tried to take Madison, 4, and Meghan, 2, away from him, but she didn't take the threat seriously.

As for listing weapons on her protection order, Roberta Knights, Katherine Moshiri's mother said Mir Shahin Moshiri liked to collect the guns as "toys."

Since her release from the hospital last week, Katherine Moshiri has remained by her daughter's bedside, her mother said.

"I don't have the luxury to allow myself to break down yet, because I may not be able to get up, and my daughter needs me," Katherine Moshiri said.

Doctors have been cautiously optimistic about Meghan's prognosis, Knights said.

Katherine Moshiri said she is well aware she will not be bringing home the same little girl she had Dec. 3. And she knows they have many months of recovery ahead of them.

"As long as Meghan keeps improving, Katherine will keep improving," said Knights, who described Meghan as "feisty" and "trying to boss the whole family around." She said Meghan's stubborn streak has helped her fight for her life.

The whole family is overwhelmed by the outpouring of support shown by the community.

"I learned Monday there is absolute, pure evil out there, but there are amazing, amazing people as well," Katherine Moshiri said.

Donations to the Moshiri Family Fund can be made at any Bank of America, and sympathy messages can be sent to www.mccombsfuneralhome.com.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245