20s Arrested for Wielding Weapon at Ex's Home Under 'Personal Protection' Order...Mother Dead, Sibling in Critical Condition (Summary)

Published 10 Dec.2021 20:30(KST)

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] A man in his 20s who visited the home of a woman he had previously dated, murdered her mother with a weapon, and injured her minor younger brother has been arrested by the police. The woman was a person under personal protection.

According to the police on the 10th, the Songpa Police Station in Seoul arrested Lee (26) on charges of murder and attempted murder and is currently investigating him.

Lee is accused of visiting a villa in Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu, where Ms. A (21) lived, and stabbing her mother (49) and younger brother (13) in the chest and neck with a weapon.

At the time, Ms. A’s father, who was out, called the police at 2:26 p.m., saying, "I was talking on the phone with my wife when it seemed someone entered the house." The police arrived at the scene five minutes later, at 2:31 p.m. Inside the house, Ms. A’s mother and younger brother were found collapsed and bleeding. They were immediately taken to the hospital, but the mother eventually died. The younger brother is receiving treatment but is in critical condition due to heavy bleeding.

After the police arrived, Lee jumped out of a fourth-floor window to the outside of the building. He then discarded the weapon on the street, broke into the second floor of a neighboring vacant house, hid in the master bedroom wardrobe, and was arrested on the spot at 2:51 p.m., 20 minutes after the police arrived. It is reported that he did not resist the police at the time of arrest.

Ms. A had reported Lee to another local police station on the 6th on charges of sexual assault, and the next day she became a person under personal protection and was even provided with a smartwatch. However, she was not at the scene during the incident and did not report it through the smartwatch. Although Ms. A was under personal protection, there were no separate protective measures for her family.

So far, there have been no confirmed reports of Lee being reported for stalking before this incident. Accordingly, no provisional measures or emergency actions under the Stalking Punishment Act were taken.

The police are focusing their investigation on the possibility that Lee committed the crime out of resentment after being reported for a sex crime following a breakup, as an act of retaliation.