Family: Grandmother in shooting spree battled schizophrenia

Shooting survivor Thy Luellen Phan is comforted by an unidentified girl after a ceremony Friday at the Wat Khemarak Pothiram Buddhist Temple in Seattle. Her mother, Saroeun Phan, shot her, her daughters Molina Phan and Jennifer Harm, and her husband, Choeun Harm, at a West Seattle home Thursday before turning the gun on herself. (Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com)

Shooting survivor Thy Luellen Phan prays during a ceremony at the Wat Khemarak Pothiram Buddhist Temple in Seattle. People gathered at the temple to pray after Thy's mother killed two of her daughters and her husband before taking her own life. Thy was shot four times before the carnage ended. (Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com)

Police say she may have tried to kill everyone in the West Seattle home

Saturday, September 25, 2010
By CASEY MCNERTHNEY
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

It was about 1:30 p.m. Thursday when Saroeun Phan armed herself with a handgun.

"According to one of the witnesses, she did not say a single word when she came out of the bedroom and came downstairs," Assistant Seattle Police Chief Jim Pugel said. "Not a single word."

Police say before turning the gun on herself, Phan killed her 14- and 17-year-old granddaughters, Molina Phan and Jennifer Harm; her 43-year-old son-in-law Choeun Harm; and also shot her 42-year-old daughter, Thy Luellen Phan.

"Saroeun Phan has been struggling with schizophrenia and depression for several years and has sought medical attention numerous times," family members said in a statement. "She has been taking medication prescribed to her by physicians.

"It is not certain whether she has been properly taking her medication these past couple of months."

Police say at some point during the Thursday rampage, the 60-year-old armed herself with another gun and fired at least 20 rounds total at the family home in the 9400 block of Southwest Roxbury Street in West Seattle, where members of three related families lived.

It may have been her intention to kill everyone who lived there, police said.

Kevin Harm, a teenage grandson of Saroeun Phan, escaped through a window with two others, including a 7-year-old girl.

It's not clear where the guns came from, and police are trying to track them. Phan didn't have a concealed weapons permit, "but there's no law against owning a gun and keeping it in your house," Pugel said of the 9 mm and .25 caliber pistols. Investigators said the guns were not stolen.

It's unclear what exactly caused Phan to snap Thursday afternoon. Police said they hadn't gone to the house in the roughly six weeks the families lived there, and officers had no prior contact with Phan or those killed.

The only thing close was a parking ticket issued on the block the day before the massacre -- the worst Seattle killing spree since Kyle Huff killed six people, wounded two others and killed himself at a Capitol Hill home in March 2006.

But the parking ticket didn't have any connection to the family or the shooting, Pugel said. Phan's family said the shooting was truly unforeseen.

Leunllen, who was wounded, and Phan's husband were at the Wat Khemarak Pothiram Buddhist temple in South King County on Friday, where other family members and close friends comforted them.

The family is Cambodian, and an attorney said in court documents that Phan's parents and several children were killed in the Cambodian Civil War in the 1970s. Records from a 1994 civil suit indicate that Phan had long suffered from mental illness.

Her sister suffered shrapnel wounds during a bombing at her home; Phan survived the conflict, then settled in the United States.

Investigators were trying to talk to medical professionals who may have treated Phan.

"We're scratching our heads at this one, too," Pugel said Friday afternoon.

Medical records submitted as part of the 16-year-old civil suit portray Phan as a woman in frequent contact with her doctor.

Drawing Social Security disability for reasons unspecified in court documents, Phan visited a doctor almost weekly for years in the mid 1990s. Records show that she had been evaluated by a psychiatrist on several occasions, and was in counseling for depression.

Thursday shooting scene

A 911 call received at 1:31 p.m. Thursday was the first indication there was trouble in the 9400 block of 14th Avenue Southwest, located just north of the map line that separates Seattle from the unincorporated but urban area of King County known as White Center.

As police moved to get a hold on the situation, a SWAT unit that happened to be in the area arrived at the scene and King County Sheriff's deputies also responded. Shots were fired while the medics were at the scene and at least two officers with rifles were deployed.

At some point, Phan exited the modest three-bedroom house the families were renting, but soon went back inside.

Officers were attempting to gain control of the area when Phan's husband, a man in his 60s, ran past police and into the back door of the house, Pugel said. At that point, officers still didn't know how many people were dead or wounded and where exactly Phan was.

Two shots rang out. The man came out of the house and told police she was dead.

"I just heard gun shots. I come out and cops were all over," neighbor Bobby Miller told KOMO/4. "Just 'bam, bam,' and that was it, then screaming over here."

Police rushed the house looking for Phan, wearing a white shirt and gray sweatpants. The four victims were confirmed dead at the scene about 2:15 p.m.

Investigators described a horrific scene -- one Pugel said was as disturbing as the 2006 Capitol Hill shooting and the Wah Mee massacre, which was the worst mass-murder case in state history. In that February 1983 incident, 13 people were killed and another was wounded.

Thursday's incident brings the number of homicides in Seattle this year to 15, not including officer-involved incidents still under investigation. Of that number, at least nine have been domestic violence cases.

"It's a solved crime," Pugel said of Thursday's massacre. "But all the legal aspects aside, it's the emotional impact, the emotional impact you have on the young officers out there on the firefighters, the medics -- 10 times that for the survivors.

"Regardless of what she did, several people are without a mother, a grandmother and a man's without a wife. And that's terrible."

Statement released by families

Yesterday afternoon's horrible event cost us four family members. They will surely be missed by all of us.

We ask that the media please correct the currently published report. Saroeun Phan has been struggling with schizophrenia and depression for several years and has sought medical attention numerous times. She has been taking medication prescribed to her by physicians. It is not certain whether she has been properly taking her medication these past couple of months.

It is tough enough to grieve with the loss of family members, it's even harder dealing with false reports. No arguments or fights took place the night before and no ill-will existed in the household. This has truly been an unforeseen, tragic event.

Our family would like to request solitude as we mourn the loved ones we lost. Thank you to all who have sent and continue to send their love, care & prayers. We will certainly need our friends in the coming weeks & months.

If you wish to contribute monetarily to costs of funeral & medical expenses, we have set up a benevolent account at BECU. That information is below. Deposits can be made at any BECU accepting deposits, by mail or electronically (for BECU Members only).

Phan/Harm Memorial Fund

Acct # 3586082948

BECU

PO BOX 34044

SEATTLE, WA 98124-1044

BECU Members can call: (800) 233-2328

Thankfully,

Phan, Harm & Sok Family

Casey McNerthney can be reached at 206-448-8220 or caseymcnerthney@seattlepi.com. Follow Casey on Twitter at twitter.com/mcnerthney.

Seattlepi.com news gatherers Levi Pulkkinen, Vanessa Ho and Joshua Trujillo contributed to this report.