Yellow Dogs: What Exactly Is Happening?

Photo via Facebook

This morning, reports surfaced around of tragedy that struck Brooklyn indie rock band the Yellow Dogs, a group who fled Iran for New York City in January 2010. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal both reported that a member of the band had shot and killed three people, wounded another, and then killed himself on the roof of the buliding. The shootings took place in East Williamsburg in the same building the band identified as their headquarters on their Facebook page.

These reports have since been proven as partially incorrect.

The shooter, Raefe Ahkbar, was not a member of the Yellow Dogs. Instead, he was a member of another band from Iran, the Free Keys.

Ali Salehezadeh, who manages both Yellow Dogs and the Free Keys, told ABC News that the shooter hadn't spoken to them in months because of a "petty conflict." Initial reports stated that the shooter was a member of the band and then kicked out, causing speculation that the conflict was over money or stolen equipment. This is just not true.

During the writing of this story, while Noisey waited for comment from the band's publicist, Ali Salehezadeh released an official statement:

The shooter was not a former member of the band The Yellow Dogs, he was in another band from Iran and the two groups were acquaintances in the past. A personal conflict between the guys resulted in the dissolution of their relationship in 2012. The shooting resulted in the death of two of the members of the Yellow Dogs, Sourosh Farazmand (guitarist) and Arash Farazmand (drummer), along with a friend of theirs, fellow musician and author Ali Eskandarian. The shooter died from a self inflicted bullet wound on site.

Noisey spoke to Peter Agoston, a friend of Yellow Dogs and NYC booking agent who'd booked Yellow Dogs multiple times in various venues over the past few years, who confirmed Raefe Ahkbar is not a member of Yellow Dogs and questioned the validity of the reports.

"It comes as a complete shock," Agoston said. "I would never expect anyone—an actual, real member of Yellow Dogs—to do something this unbelievable. From that, I started looking around at these different reports and something just wasn't adding up."

Two of the dead members of the Yellow Dogs were brothers. They had come to the United States from Iran three years earlier, after they'd appeared in a documentary about the underground music scene in Iran, through artist visas. The other person killed was a musician, but not a member of the band. The wounded was a 22 year old artist named Sot, from Icy and Sot, an Iranian art collective, who also is believed to have lived at the space where shooting took place.

Agoston said the relationship between Yellow Dogs and the Free Keys was based on helping one another. He repeatedly stated that Yellow Dogs, because of their connection to Iran, had been based in helping one another get noticed in the music scene.

"They weren't the biggest band in the world by any means," said Agoston, "but the thing that should be noted is that they were always looking out for cats and trying to do shows, always trying to collaborate with people, and help each other other out. I'd never felt any negative energy from them. The boys who were shot were some of the sweetest, most innocent kids."

Noisey is investigating the story further and will provide updates.