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A 32-year-old woman gassed her two children and herself to death in a suspected murder-suicide case today after allegedly cutting a gas pipe in her Cheung Sha Wan public housing apartment.
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The woman, Luo, declared dead at around 10 am after being rushed to Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung unconscious.
Her two children, including a ten-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter, died around the same time in Caritas Medical Center in Cheung Sha Wan.
The woman’s husband, Zhu, 36, was sent to the same hospital to get checked in the company of his father after learning about the tragedy at around 8 am - when he returned home from late-night work.
Fire officers and ambulance men were called to Lotus House of So Uk Estate after a resident reported a gas odor within the building at around 8 am.
Later, fire officers detected the presence of a highly concentrated gas on the 20th floor of the building using a gas detector.
They soon identified the gas to be emitted from a three-bedroom apartment on the floor, during which they knocked on several occasions but nobody answered.
Fire officers then broke the door open, which was locked inside, and found the woman and her two children lying unconscious inside a bedroom of the apartment.
Officers then performed CPR on the trio in the corridor before rushing the latter to different hospitals.
The woman’s husband was seen acting agitated outside Caritas Medical Center, and told reporters at the scene that “all my family members are dead”.
No residents had to be evacuated from the building because of the gas leak.
At 11 am, staffers from Towngas were sent to shut down the gas meter control valve of the building and carried out inspections.
Cheng Chun-kit, assistant commander of Sham Shui Po police division, said that police officers found a substantial amount of cloth and A4 papers placed near the window and the door so as to prevent fresh air from coming into the apartment.
Cheng said that the gas pipe inside the kitchen of the apartment was “deliberately cut open”.
Police found a family drawing believed to be drawn by the children and was with words that read “sorry” in adult-like handwriting, and some medication for flu on the dining table, he added.
Cheng said that the motivation behind the suspected murder-suicide was yet to be determined.
“The deceased woman does not have mental health records...As for her relationship with her husband and the condition of the couple’s marital affairs, they are yet to be investigated,” Cheng said.
“But so far, we cannot see significant arguments, money dispute or priors on domestic violence between the couple.”
He said that an autopsy was to be followed soon to identify the cause of the trio’s death, adding that the case has been classified as “suicide and homicide”.
Cheng said that the woman - a housewife, and her husband had been married for 12 years, and they moved from mainland China to Hong Kong seven years ago.
“Their two children, born in Hong Kong, were a primary five and primary one student of a Ma Tau Wai primary school,” Cheng said.
“The duo was learned to have achieved good results and conducts at school...Their parents had maintained good communication with the school too.”
He also said that the primary school where the children went to had learned about the tragedy, and had activated a crisis management team.
Sham Shui Po district councilor Ho Kwan-chau said that the tenants of the apartment were a family of four who moved in last year.
Ho said that he had never received any reports for help from the family.
A resident of the housing estate, Kong, thought the case to be related to the woman’s difficulties in taking care of her children at home, adding that the husband should assist his wife.
The woman was said to have exerted great pressure on her children’s schoolwork.
Her husband was learned to leave home for work at a fruit stall in Yau Ma Tei at around 10 pm yesterday, and was told by the woman to buy breakfasts when he returned home in the following morning.
