Turkish teacher falls victim to femicide in United States

FAIRFAX

A Turkish woman has fallen victim to an incident of femicide, but this time in the United States, not in Turkey where a woman is killed by someone she knows almost every day.

Bengü Metin, a 38-year-old teacher, was found fatally shot by her ex-husband in Virginia, just six days after she was granted a divorce. Her mother, Semra Metin, also suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

It turned out that the deceased woman sought a protective order against her ex-husband, John Beachley, citing a history of threatening and harassing behavior. But a judge denied the request in August 2021.

Speaking to the Virginia-based media platform Fauquier Times through a Turkish-language interpreter at a hospital where she was treated, Metin said that the man opened fire on her and her daughter when they were returning home.

The 63-year-old woman also confirmed that her former son-in-law had a history of threatening behavior that eventually escalated to the shooting.

Semra Metin, who lives in Istanbul but frequently visits her daughter in the U.S., noted she and her daughter were out at a movie theater, but John Beachley was waiting for them at their garage.

“He pulled a gun out and said something to Bengü,” Metin recalled, at which point “Bengü turned to her, asked for the phone, because she thought that he was just going to scare them again, and he just started shooting.”

Responding to the incident at the crime scene, authorities found both Bengü Metin and John Beachley dead. Police believe that he killed himself following the murder.

Meanwhile, a campaign has been launched to raise money for Metin’s medical expenses and the cost of returning Bengü Metin’s body to Turkey to be buried.

The campaign had raised more than $31,000 so far.