New details emerge about Utah mother, 3 young children killed at their home
Police believe Utah mother was shot to death by husband and their three children is a refugee fleeing violence Myanmar Relatives said Thursday that she dreamed of prospering with her family in the United States.
Police believe the husband killed his family and seriously injured a teenage son before shooting himself.
The bodies of Bu Meh, 38, her daughters Kristina Ree, 8, Nyay Meh, 2, and son Boe Reh, 11, were found Tuesday at their home in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Valley City. A handgun was found under the body of 42-year-old father Dae Reh. Police believe it was a murder-suicide, but no evidence of a motive has been released.
Police said a 17-year-old child, Sha Reh, survived being shot in the head and was taken to hospital with severe brain injuries.
Bu Meh, a member of Myanmar’s Karenni ethnic minority, fled the Southeast Asian country about 10 years ago in what her relatives said was ethnic cleansing. She and her young family lived for a time in a refugee camp in Thailand before coming to the United States with “nothing but the clothes on their backs,” the family said in a statement. statement.
She taught herself English, picked up new skills and worked hard to support her growing family, achieving a lifestyle that was “far beyond the nightmares of her previous country or refugee camp,” her family said.
Her family said: “For reasons we cannot understand, her husband deprived her and her children of their security and life.”
Police believe the shooting happened over the weekend.
Police initially went to the home Monday evening after a relative asked them to check on the family, but found no signs of an emergency that would have allowed them to enter the home. The relative went to the home on Tuesday and saw Sharai injured in the garage and called police, who discovered the body inside the house.
In a statement, Share’s relatives called him a hero and said he faced a “long and complicated road to recovery.” An online fundraiser is raising donations to pay for his care and help him attend college.
Neighbors did not report any shootings in the area over the weekend, police spokesperson Roxeanne Vainuku said at a news conference Wednesday. There had been no previous reports of domestic violence or other disturbances at the home.
a neighbor Talk to CBS affiliate KUTV About the shock they felt.
“How could a father shoot his own child?” neighbor Mike Webster told the station. “I just couldn’t wrap my head around the concept. All I could see was that poor little two-year-old girl looking at her daddy.”
The Utah case is the 38th mass killing in the United States this year. At least 165 people have been killed in mass killings in the United States this year, which the FBI defines as cases in which four or more people, not including the murderer, die within 24 hours.
Mark Barden, whose child was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, urges Utah lawmakers to pass red flag laws after incident in Utah, KUTV report.
“When it is recognized that a person is in crisis, taking steps to safely and temporarily remove a person’s firearm can save lives,” Baden said.
