A man who was a former student of the University of California campus at Irvine brought his mother to the campus, where he threw her off a multistory building. He then jumped off the building, following her.
The incident occurred at the School of Social Sciences. Police called it a murder-suicide.
Police confirmed that Andrew Nguyen Doan and his elderly mother, Thao Nguyen, 77, were found dead outside 214 Pereira Drive at around 4 pm on Tuesday, December 13.
Police say the motive is unclear, but they had previous interactions with Doan, including in 2019 in an incident related to Doan’s mental health issues.
A spokesperson for the university, Tom Vasich, told the media that Doan went to the university between 2017 and 2019 and studied biological sciences, but did not graduate. He did not have a current affiliation with the school.
While at a psychiatric hospital sometime in 2019, Doan was accused of sexually battering his roommate and was arrested. He was released when his mom posted his $100,000 bail. He pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 156 days in jail and three years probation, which ended last July, at which point he was out on the streets again, according to records from the Orange County Superior Court.
Nguyen and Doan lived together in Irvine. A neighbor, Michael Bertin, said of Doan, ”He was a troublesome young man. It’s like he had demons. It’s a horrible thing.”
The neighbor said he sometimes saw the mother, Nguyen, gardening. He never witnessed the pair arguing.
You never know what’s going on behind closed doors.
