In a tragic turn of events on a Tuesday evening in August 2022, a 30-year-old Asian woman named Ka Lor lost her life in her Saint Paul, Minnesota home. The incident, which unfolded on the 2000 block of California Avenue, was later determined by police to be a murder-suicide.
That night, one of the five children present in the home made a harrowing 911 call. When officers arrived at the residence, they discovered the bodies of Ka Lor and her long-time partner, 33-year-old Yia Xiong.
Both had sustained fatal gunshot wounds. Investigators believe that Xiong shot and killed Lor before turning the weapon on himself. A single weapon was recovered from the scene. The couple had been in a relationship for approximately a decade and were the parents of the five children, all under the age of ten, who were in the house at the time of the tragedy.
The couple's eldest child, a 9-year-old boy, reportedly heard the gunshots after being told to go play in the basement with his siblings. He then went upstairs, found his parents, and bravely called the police, ensuring his younger siblings remained safe and away from the scene. The children are now in the care of other family members.
Family members of the couple expressed their shock and grief, stating they had not seen any signs of trouble leading up to the fatal incident. Xiong's older brother described him and Lor as amazing parents and said the family had just returned from a camping trip days before the shooting. He expressed his heartbreak and disbelief, emphasizing how much his brother loved his children. The investigation into the murder-suicide is ongoing, leaving a community to mourn the loss and a family to navigate a future without their parents. No arrests have been made as the case is being treated as a murder-suicide with the suspect also deceased.
