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if the family were Christian

Reportedly, they are Jordanian and belong to the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church.

Given he shot relatives first, it's likely this is an Adam Lanza or Charlie Whitman type of case and not jihadism.

Of course, it's also possible his family had turned Christian, but he got the old religion back.

“Jordanian and belong to the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church.”

Finally some better information. On the other thread I tried to caution that we should not jump to the conclusion that the perpetrator was Muslim. What struck me is that the Father’s name was Samir. I have know eastern Christians from the M.E. who had that name. Then someone else on the thread knew Lebanese Christians with the last name of Zawahri.

I now suspect that the family is of Christian background, and many of these M.E. Christian groups go back many, many generations. That is, not new converts.

There are several Christian groups in the M.E. and many have fled because of persecution.

“Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiochian_Orthodox_Christian_Archdiocese_of_North_America

“The Antiochian Orthodox followers were originally cared for by the Russian Orthodox Church in America and the first bishop consecrated in North America, Saint Raphael of Brooklyn, was consecrated by the Russian Orthodox Church in America in 1904 to care for the Syro-Levantine Greek Orthodox Christian Ottoman immigrants to the USA and Canada, who had come chiefly from the Vilayets of Adana, Aleppo, Beirut and Damascus (the birthplace of the community’s founder St Raphael).”

There are also Arab Christians in Lebanon who are Maronite and recognize the Pope, but have married priests:

Although reduced in numbers today, Maronites remain one of the principal ethno-religious groups in Lebanon. The Maronite Church asserts that since its inception, it has always remained faithful to the Church of Rome and the Pope.[2] In November 2012, Pope Benedict appointed Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi as a Cardinal.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maronite_Church

“Before the conquest by Arabian Muslims reached Lebanon, the Lebanese people, including those who would become Muslim and the majority who would remain Christian, spoke a dialect of Aramaic.[4][5][6] Syriac (Christian Aramaic) still remains the liturgical language of the Maronite Church.[7] The members of the Maronite Church are a part of the Syriac people; though they have, over time, developed a distinctive Maronite character, this has not obscured their Antiochene and Syriac origin.”