By Alex Robinson
Flushing experienced a bloody couple of days this week when five people were found dead in two murder-suicides within four blocks of each other in less than 12 hours, police said.
Police found the severely burned bodies of a 50-year-old man, his son and his wife after a fire in a sixth-floor apartment, at 143-40 Roosevelt Avenue, early Tuesday morning. The bodies were discovered with knife wounds to their necks, leading police to suspect the father killed his family and set the apartment on fire before committing suicide, according to the NYPD.
The father, Jong Lee, left a suicide note saying he had killed himself, his wife Sung, 54, and son Brian, 16, because he had “too many problems” and did not want his family to suffer when he was gone, The New York Times reported. His son was a student at Brooklyn Tech.
Police came across the bodies on the floor of the living room after the FDNY extinguished the fire, which was contained to the apartment.
In a separate incident the preceding evening, a 51-year-old man shot his girlfriend in downtown Flushing before turning the gun on himself, police said.
Xie Bin, of Flushing, shot Ya Ling Meng, 46, in the head and then killed himself in front of a Chinese restaurant on 41st Avenue, near bustling Main Street in broad daylight, according to the NYPD.
Police said they arrived at the scene just after 5:30 p.m. and found the two lying on the sidewalk.
Witnesses said the two had been engaged in a loud argument on the street before Bin took out the gun and shot his girlfriend.
Police said the couple had not had a history of domestic violence between them and the investigation was ongoing.
Reporter Bill Parry contributed to this story.
