A woman was shot dead inside a Turkish hospital by her ex-husband after filing multiple restraining orders against him. Eser Karaca, a 42-year-old mother of two, filed the fourth restraining order on the day 44-year-old Atilla Ayintaplis showed up at the private hospital in Kahramanmaraş city, where she was employed.
The restraining order had not been served yet when the crazed man walked calmly through the entrance with the weapon concealed. He was caught on disturbing surveillance footage with a shotgun, which he carried inside a blue plastic bag.
Ayintaplis headed to an office where Karaca worked as a medical secretary. Once inside, he charged at his ex-wife, trying to grab her. Karaca attempted to flee with a co-worker, racing out of her office while Ayintapli pursued them and withdrew the shotgun.
The scene caused panic in the halls as bystanders rushed for safety. The camera then captured a heart-wrenching sequence, Ayintapli cornering Karaca in a stairwell. In her final moments, she lifted her hands in a desperate attempt to shield herself before he opened fire.
The first blast struck her upper body, knocking her to the ground. Without hesitation, he fired two more times before quickly leaving the scene. The footage goes on to show Karaca’s colleagues responding to the gunshots, only to find Karaca lifeless on the stairwell floor.
As he fled, Ayintapli abandoned the shotgun at the hospital entrance. The attack, carried out in broad daylight, left employees and visitors shaken. Police captured him shortly afterwards, and he later confessed to the killing. Karaca’s case adds to a growing number of femicides in the country, incidents where current or former partners kill women.
Another recent femicide involves seventeen-year-old women’s rights activist Gizem Canbulut. Canbulut was brutally murdered by her ex-boyfriend, 19-year-old Eren Yildiz, shortly after the two ended their relationship. The attack happened in a park where they had agreed to meet, and Gizem was fatally stabbed.
Yildiz later told authorities he could not recall the stabbing, only remembering seeing Gizem covered in blood on the ground before fleeing in fear and discarding the knife. Her death, one among hundreds in Turkey, fuelled growing outrage over domestic violence. NGOs reported that in 2024 alone, 394 women were killed by men, underscoring the urgent demand for stronger protections.
