On December 29, 2014, 53-year-old Phu Lam
went on a killing spree in
Edmonton, Alberta
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...
, Canada. He shot to death eight people, including two children, most of whom were his relatives. He then committed suicide at a Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant, VN Express, in which he had a professional interest that allowed after hours access; the restaurant was located in
Fort Saskatchewan
Fort Saskatchewan is a city along the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta, Canada. It is northeast of Edmonton, the provincial capital. It is part of the Edmonton census metropolitan area and one of 24 municipalities that constitute the Edmont ...
, just Northeast of Edmonton.
Details
Lam killed seven relatives, including two children under the age of ten, in a house in north Edmonton. Lam then went into another house in the Haddow neighbourhood of Edmonton and killed Cyndi Duong. He then drove to Fort Saskatchewan where he entered a Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant, where he had after hours access in order to complete kitchen repairs, and committed suicide by shooting himself.
Police entered the restaurant at 7:34 a.m. on December 30, where they found Lam's body.
Victims
The victims were:
*
Klarvatten house: Phu Lam's wife, Thuy-tien Truong (known as Tien Truong), 35, and her eight-year-old son, Elvis Lam; her father Van-dang Truong, 55; her mother, Thi-dau Le, 55; her sister, Thanh-ha-thi Truong (known as Ha Truong), 33; her sister's daughter, Valentina Nguyen, 3; Viet Nguyen, 41, Tien Truong's male friend.
*
Haddow house: Cyndi Duong, 36.
Perpetrator
Phu Lam (aged 53) had a criminal record dating back to 1987, which included drug and violence-related offenses.
[Phu Lam identified as Edmonton shooter](_blank)
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
, December 31, 2014. At the time of the shooting, he was in bankruptcy proceedings and owed a large amount of money on at least a dozen credit cards due to a gambling problem.
Lam was arrested twice in Edmonton, for sexual and domestic assault. The
9mm handgun used in the shooting was registered in 1997 but was stolen in 2006 from
Surrey, British Columbia
Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surr ...
.
In November 2012, a complaint was filed against Lam after he threatened to kill his ex-wife Thuy Tien Truong and five other relatives.
See also
*
2014 Calgary stabbing
*
Claresholm highway massacre
The Claresholm highway shooting was a murder–suicide that occurred on December 15, 2011, on Alberta Highway 2, just north of Claresholm, Alberta, Canada. The suspect, 21-year-old Derek Jensen, killed three people with a Heckler & Koch 9mm han ...
References
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2014 in Alberta
2010s in Edmonton
2014 murders in Canada
2014 mass shootings in Canada
Attacks in Canada in 2014
Crime in Edmonton
December 2014 crimes in North America
December 2014 events in Canada
Familicides
Mass murder in 2014
Mass murder in Alberta
Mass shootings in Canada
Murder–suicides in Canada
Spree shootings in Canada
Suicides by firearm in Alberta