Police believe a former UC Irvine (UCI) student threw his elderly mother off a campus building Tuesday, then leapt to his death, and authorities are working to determine a motive.
The bodies of the Irvine, California, residents, identified as 36-year-old Andrew Nguyen Doan and 77-year-old Thao Thi Nguyen were found lying in a plaza at the School of Social Sciences, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
In a social media post, the Irvine Police Department (IPD) explained, “The investigation has determined Doan picked up Nguyen and threw her off the landing of a multistory building. Doan then jumped from the same landing to his death.”
UPDATE – Murder-Suicide Investigation #IRVINEPDPIO – The Irvine Police Department (IPD) has worked in partnership with…
Posted by Irvine Police Department on Wednesday, December 14, 2022
The department also noted it contacted the man several times in the past and that “The last call for service involving mental health concerns was in 2019,” adding the case is being investigated as a murder-suicide.
UCI spokesman Tom Vasich told the Times the man had been a biological sciences major at the school until June of 2019 but did not graduate.
Multiple 911 calls came in to campus police when the the bodies were discovered Tuesday afternoon at the plaza in the 200 block of Pereira Drive.
Aerial video footage showed officials at the scene with a blue tarp spread out near some steps:
In a statement, UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman said, “Preliminary information does suggest the possibility that at least one death occurred at the hands of another. Under such circumstances, the City of Irvine Police will be leading the investigation and will be responsible for updating our community on its progress.”
“Of course, the university will be fully cooperating with these efforts,” he concluded.
It remained unclear what the two individuals were doing on the campus prior to the incident because classes were not in session, according to NBC News.
“Orange County Superior Court records show Doan pleaded guilty on July 10, 2020, to sexual battery in connection with an incident that had occurred about a year before,” the Times report continued, adding, “The 2019 case involved sexual battery of his roommate at a mental hospital, said Kimberly Edds, an Orange County district attorney’s office spokesperson.”
In September 2019, Nguyen reportedly posted $100,000 bail for her son, who was eventually sentenced to jail and given three years of probation, which ended in July.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention website says suicide is the twelfth leading cause of death in America.
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