San Jose man told police ‘stranger’ commanded him to kill parents

Hasib Golamrabbi, 22, was arrested Wednesday, April 27, 2916, along with his 17-year-old brother in connection with the double murder of their parents in San Jose. Hasib Golamrabbi, 22, was arrested Wednesday, April 27, 2916, along with his 17-year-old brother in connection with the double murder of their parents in San Jose. Photo: Courtesy / San Jose Police Department Photo: Courtesy / San Jose Police Department Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close San Jose man told police ‘stranger’ commanded him to kill parents 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

The older of two brothers charged with murder in the killing of their parents admitted to investigators that he shot his father multiple times in the family’s San Jose garage after a “stranger” told him to do it, according to police reports released Friday.

Hasib Golamrabbi, 22, confessed to the killing after his arrest Wednesday in Tracy, but he said he didn’t see his mother shot, the reports say. He said a stranger, whom he couldn’t identify, had assaulted him in the home and instructed him to shoot his father.

His younger brother, 17-year-old Omar Golamrabbi, told police he was in the home when his brother shot both parents, but he didn’t mention a stranger or any other person, according to the arrest reports. The brothers purportedly told investigators that, after the killings, they went to an anime convention in Oakland, where they were seen behaving normally.

Shamima Rabbi, 57, and her 59-year-old husband, Golam Rabbi, were found dead Sunday in their home in the 3000 block of Lucas Court in San Jose’s Evergreen neighborhood. On Friday, the brothers were arraigned on the murder charges in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

The younger brother was charged as an adult. Both are being held without bail.

According to police records, worried relatives initially contacted the brothers Sunday morning, when the two said they were in Oakland for the convention. The relatives asked the young men to return home because their parents were not responding to phone calls or knocks. Golam Rabbi had not shown up for work.

After several hours, the relatives went to the home, discovered the bodies and called authorities. Inside the house police found writing on the walls that investigators believe came from two people. One scrawl appeared to have “specific writing characteristics” consistent with Omar’s writing found in notebooks, police reports say.

Initially, Omar denied knowledge of the killings, saying he had been at the convention, police said. But he later told detectives that after his father was shot, he closed the curtains at his brother’s request before his brother killed their mother. As the two were leaving, the younger brother said he got out of the car to check that blood was not seeping from the garage, the reports say.

In a jailhouse interview with The Chronicle on Thursday, Hasib Golamrabbi said the true story would come out in legal proceedings.

“I want everyone to know what happened,” he said, “but I can’t say anything without a lawyer.”

He was insistent that his brother had nothing to do with the killings.

“No, and that’s all I can say,” he said. “He’s innocent.”

The older brother told a friend after the killings that someone had been coming into the house and torturing him over several months, and that it wouldn’t stop unless he killed his parents, according to KPIX-TV.

The friend said Hasib Golamrabbi hid at his house in Tracy after the killings, but that he later grew fearful and turned him in.

The victims had emigrated from Bangladesh to the United States three decades ago. The arrest of the sons shocked some neighbors and family friends, who said there were no outward signs of tension within the family.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker