By Juan A. Lozano
Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) – Sheriff’s officials have identified the married couple fatally shot last week, along with their two sons in their suburban Houston home.
Maoye Sun, 50, and his wife, Mei Xie, 49, were shot on Jan. 30 in Cypress, northwest of Houston. The Houston Chronicle reported the Cypress-Fairbanks School District identified the children as 9-year-old Timothy Xie Sun and 7-year-old Titus Xiao Sun.
Authorities have not yet determined a motive for the slayings, nor identified any suspects, Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said. All four victims were shot in the head.
Authorities said the husband and wife were naturalized U.S. citizens who had emigrated from China. They did not say when the family arrived in the United States.
Garcia said deputies went to the family’s Cypress home on Jan. 30, after the husband’s co-workers became concerned when he hadn’t shown up for work for several days. Deputies found the back door open and inside discovered a “horrific crime scene,” Garcia said.
Harris County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Felipe Rivera said the victims were found in their bedrooms. He declined to give other details of the crime scene, only saying they had not been tied up and that no weapons were found at the home.
“We have no other information that will speak to a motive, as to why this occurred,” Garcia said. “From all indications, they were a quiet family, they were the average family. I am bothered by the loss of life of two children.”
Autopsies done by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences have ruled the deaths as homicide.
Garcia said authorities don’t know the type of weapon used in the killings.
Rivera said investigators found signs of forced entry via a window, but that it was unclear if it was recent damage.
“It is baffling,” Rivera said of the case.
The father — a mechanical engineer for Cameron, a Houston-based oil and gas industry equipment manufacturer — last worked Jan. 24. Cameron spokeswoman Sharon Sloan confirmed the man had worked for the company, but declined to comment further. (end)