Mr Najafi told reporters that he had lived separately from Ms Ostad, and that he had unsuccessfully tried to get her consent for divorce. After a quarrel with his spouse, Najafi said he took a loaded gun and a pillow and headed to the bathroom, where Ms Ostad was. At the sight of the gun, the woman "was scared and threw herself" on him but this only caused a scuffle during which Najafi shot her, he said. Mr Najafi said he had considered suicide after killing his wife, but "later thought the best way would be through legal means" and turned himself in. Tehran's police chief told reporters that Mr Najafi's permit to own a gun had expired four years ago.
