AG: Savyon Shot Son 6 Times Before Turning Gun on Himself

Three months after Menahem "Muni" Savyon shot and killed his son and then himself during a supervised visit at the YWCA in Manchester, the AG has issued a report that sheds some light on a case that shattered lives on a sunny Sunday morning in Manchester.

According to the report, Savyon shot his 9-year-old son Joshua six times before turning the gun on himself on Aug. 11. Joshua Savyon lived in Amherst with his mother Becky Ranes and attended elementary school in town.

The report included information gleaned from several witnesses during the investigation that followed the murder/suicide and contained a copy of an e-mail (posted above) he sent to his neighbors in Manchester about his decision to kill himself and his son. 

"When you get this e-mail neither Yarden (the Hebrew he used to refer to Joshua) nor I will be alive, that's the plan at least, and if God was not merciful and my plan was not foiled, you have probably already seen the police," the email begins.

"'There was nothing that you, or anyone close to me, could have done to prevent the tragedy," Savyon told his neighbors in the second paragraph.

Savyon's two-page email expresses remorse for how the news of his actions will affect his mother, but in turn is very business-like in its approach as to how to handle his possessions, his body and the police in the aftermath. It also addresses the trust Ranes put in the police and court system when it came to protecting herself and Joshua from him following threats he made against them in 2012. 

According to the report, Ranes filed for and was granted a restraining order against Savyon in Nashua on March 29, 2012. Ranes told police investigating her son's murder that the day she filed for the restraining order, Savyon made threats to kill her or Joshua and himself.

“You can only push someone so far before they snap. I’ve snapped," Ranes told police Savyon told her in Nashua. “You keep pushing me. I live in New Hampshire and I now have a gun. It will be you or it will be me and Joshua. You will see it on the news.”

A timeline in the report of court dealings with Savyon indicate Ranes had applied to have the protective order extended in March of 2013. Two court hearings in April and July left the motion to extend the restraining order unresolved, but temporarily extended the order through the proceedings. However, on July 30, just eight days before Savyon bought the ammunition for the gun and 12 days before he carried out his plan, the final domestic violence order of protection was mistakenly allowed to expire.

On Aug. 11, during the supervised visit, Savyon was not searched before being allowed to meet with his son. Michael Solis, the supervisor in the room with Savyon and Joshua at the time of the shooting said it had been an unremarkable visit. They seemed to be having a good time together, Solis told police. But 40 minutes into it Solis was looking down, taking notes, when he heard the first gunshot. He ran from the room yelling for someone to call 911. It as after Solis was out of the room when Savyon turned the 9mm Smith & Wesson on himself. A surveillance camera caught the entire visit and the shooting on tape.

The report indicates the case has been closed.

"Since the murderer in this case is dead, no criminal charges will be filed and the case will be closed," the report says.

In the e-mail to his neighbors, Savyon gives a final insight to his actions, before thanking them for being great neighbors and telling them to "hang in there."

"And again, do you need to know why I did this? Never mind. The man is insane. A brief and exhaustive answer, satisfies everyone, why elaborate?"