An unknown gunman shot Abayay, the Batman representative of the monthly Ozgur Halk, with a single bullet while he was on his way to work in the morning; he died the following day. According to accounts of a relative and colleagues in Diyarbakir, two gunmen and one “watcher,” all in their late teens or early 20s, carried out the attack. Two or three yards from the place of the assassination, a large truck was parked lengthwise across the street, apparently to block the view of the killing and to prevent Abayay’s escape. Abayay and a witness reportedly saw a white car of the type used by police just before the shooting. Abayay had received death threats at the office, the relative said, and police told an uncle while he was in police custody that they would kill his nephew. Journalists from Ozgur Halk charge that the police organized the killing.