A woman herded her four grandchildren to the neighbor’s apartment to then pound on the door screaming that there were individuals killing each other in a domestic violence incident that ended in death.
The neighbor then called 911 so that the St. Paul police would arrive. When they did, they found the bodies of Chue Lor, 31; his wife Panhnia Yang, 27; and Yang’s brother Kong Meng Lee, 18.
There were no suspects being sought in the case, said a spokesman from the St. Paul Police Department. He said the police were not giving details on whether the incident was a suicide or a homicide.
Chue Lor was the neighbor of Chue Vue, who said that Lor told him Panhia Yang had left their home a week ago. The neighbor was not aware of why she had left, but said Chue Lor had been very upset about it.
The couple had four children ranging from ages 3 to 9. Fortunately, the children did not see the deaths, as their grandmother had gotten them away from the situation. They are now in the care of relatives.
When the grandmother came to Chue Vue’s apartment with the children, she told Vue that her son was begging and crying to his wife that he didn’t want her to leave and that they would take care of their children.
There had been a call to the apartment just days before when a man who lived across the hall from Lor saw Lor outside the apartment with one of his daughters and heard the girl shouting at her father to not do something. The man said he did not know why the little girl was saying what she did, but Lor seemed very nervous.
The man then went to his apartment, heard some bumping noises, and the police arrived approximately 10 minutes later.
So far in 2013, one man and seven women have been killed in partner homicides in Minnesota. According to the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, two men and four women had been killed by this same time last year.
Chue Vue said he has lived in the apartment building for several years and never heard the couple argue in the past. He knew that Lor took care of the small apartment building and saw him as a friendly man who shared home grown vegetables with Vue’s family.
Chue Lor had told his neighbor that Yang had gotten a restraining order against him, but there was no order for protection record found. Vue then told Lor that he simply needed to stay away from Yang.