( CNN ) -- The man who New York police say shot to death three Iranian musicians was kicked out of their indie rock band last year , surviving band members said Wednesday . Ali Akbar Mohammadi Rafie , 29 , took his own life Monday after shooting his former band mates in the Brooklyn apartment where they lived and practiced , the New York Police Department said . The dead included guitarist Soroush Farazmand , 27 , whose rock band the Yellow Dogs was featured in a 2009 CNN report about Iran 's burgeoning underground rock scene . Farazmand 's brother , Arash , 28 , a drummer with the Free Keys who later joined the Yellow Dogs , was also shot and killed at the same location . A third man killed was Iranian musician Ali Eskandarian , 35 . New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters that the gunman used a .308-caliber assault rifle , apparently to settle a `` dispute ... over money '' between the bands . The gunman shot and killed one of the victims through a window before entering the building in the East Williamsburg neighborhood and shooting the others on the second and third floors , Kelly said . Rafie shot himself on the roof after scuffling with at least one of two other people . Rafie came to the United States soon after joining the group in Iran to replace a bass player who could not get a visa , members Siavash `` Obash '' Karampour and Koory Mirzeai said in a written statement sent to CNN on Wednesday . `` It became clear very quickly that he was not a natural fit within our group of friends , and his personal views conflicted with our approach to our art and to the world , '' they said . Rafie was booted from the band several months later `` and in the 14 months since then , we 've had no contact with him at all , '' the statement said . The loss of their fellow musicians left `` a gaping hole in our hearts , '' they said . `` For now it 's impossible to even imagine a future without our friends , and no explanation can make sense or begin to justify what has happened to our lives . '' The survivors are `` in shock , awe , blinded with rage and paralyzed with grief , '' they said . `` Ali Eskandarian was nearly finished with his memoir , Arash had just received political asylum from Iran and Soroush was hard at work on new Yellow Dogs material , '' they said . `` Everything we had hoped and worked for was finally coming true . ... The future was so incredibly bright . The band will continue to make music , they said . `` We will not let this disgusting brutality define us or become our story , but instead respond by creating music more passionately and with more intensity than ever before , embracing the freedom that we all dreamed would one day be ours back in Iran and play to honor those who should be playing next to us . '' They are planning a memorial service for the three , which will be announced later , they said . In the 2009 CNN report , members of Yellow Dogs described performing in an improvised , clandestine music studio to avoid the wrath of Islamic authorities . The band settled in East Williamsburg after attention generated by the group 's contribution to the soundtrack of a film called `` No One Knows About Persian Cats , '' a movie about Iran 's underground music scene that won an award at the Cannes Film Festival . `` The law has a problem with rock music so we ca n't play it , '' Karampour told CNN in 2009 . Iranian authorities viewed the band members as `` anarchists , '' Karampour told CNN . `` They 're like my brothers , '' Karampour said of the band members . `` They 're more close than my brothers . '' In the CNN story , Yellow Dog members described their brand of music as rock played with bad equipment and said it touched on subjects ranging from Iranian oppression to American greed . CNN 's Ray Sanchez , Reza Sayah , Nic Robertson and Azadeh Ansari contributed to this report .
Police : Ali - Akbar Rafie took his own life after shooting former band members . ` ` He was not a natural fit within our group of musicians , '' surviving members say . The Yellow Dogs were featured in a 2009 CNN report about Iran 's underground rock scene . Loss of their fellow musicians left ` ` a gaping hole in our hearts , '' members say .