The Jabal Al Noor district of Makkah (background below), as seen from the “Mountain of Light,” one of the sites pilgrims visit during Haj. A desperate man from the district killed his two very young children before committing suicide early Monday morning, police said.

In one of the most heinous crimes reported recently, a 31-year-old Saudi father shot and killed his four-year-old daughter and 18-month-old son, before committing suicide in the Jabal Al-Noor area of Makkah early Monday morning.

The brother of the man had contacted the city’s security operations room on its 999 emergency number to report that he had found his sibling and children in a pool of blood in his house, with a handgun next to him.

After receiving the information at around 6 a.m. on Monday, the police sent a team of officers, including forensic experts to the scene.

The bodies were taken to King Faisal Hospital for postmortem and further investigations.

“Blood was splattered throughout the room. He obviously committed suicide after killing his daughter and son,” the brother was quoted as saying by the security officers.

He did not know why his brother committed the crime.