Louisiana

Child Unharmed, House Set on Fire in Rockwall Murder-Suicide: Police

Police say man fatally shot his wife before setting fire, shooting himself early Monday

A 5-year-old girl is unharmed and in the custody of Texas Child Protective Services after her parents died in an apparent murder-suicide at her Rockwall home before dawn Monday, police say.

At about 5 a.m., someone called 911 to report a fire at a home on the 1200 block of White Water Drive.

Rockwall firefighters entered the home after reporting flames upon arrival. Once inside firefighters found the bodies of two adults, but the couple's young child was unaccounted for.

After a quick search, the girl was located asleep and unharmed in a vehicle parked in the driveway. She was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure and was placed with CPS authorities, police said.

Monday afternon, police identified the bodies as the girl's parents, 42-year-old Dr. Hyun "Harry" Seop Lee and 39-year-old Dr. Yoon "Debbie" Duk Kim. Investigators added that "evidence at the scene indicated the fire was set to cover up a murder-suicide" and that they believe the husband shot and killed his wife prior to setting the fire and shooting himself.

A child escaped a house fire and possible murder-suicide at a Rockwall home Monday morning, police said. Two adults were found dead inside the home, police said.

Kim worked as an assistant professor with the Department of Engineering and Technology at Texas A&M University Commerce for the last three years. After learning of her death, the school released the following statement Monday afternoon.

"Our community awoke this morning to the devastating news of the deaths of Dr. Debbie Kim and her husband, Dr. Harry Lee," the school said. "This tragedy knocks us to our knees, an occurrence more appropriate to the Greek classics than to Rockwall-Commerce."

Dean of Students, Dr. Thomas Newsom, asked that students and faculty remember Kim’s "extraordinarily warm presence, her scholarship, and her stellar teaching."

Texas A&M Commerce has opened the school's counseling center for students and faculty in need of assistance.

TAMU Commerce said Lee worked at the university for one semester from January to May 2016. Lee is currently listed among the faculty at Grambling State University in Louisiana as an assistant professor of engineering technology, a job he started in August 2016 according to a post on Facebook.

A statement from Grambling has not yet been received.

Rockwall police said they have no history of calls to the family's home and that the couple did not have any relatives living in the country.

The Rockwall Police Department Criminal Investigation Division and the Rockwall Fire Marshall’s office continue to investigate the incident.

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