What to Know
- Six family members are dead, their bodies recovered following a house fire and shooting that wounded two officers in East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.
- Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said that the three adults and three children were members of the Le family. Investigators also found a rifle inside the home.
- The family of Britni McLaughlin-Le identified her as the woman killed, and the other victims as her husband, Xuong Le, and their three children: Natalya Le, 17; Nakayla Le, 13; and Xavier Le, 10. The DA named the likely killer as Canh Le, the 43-year-old uncle of the three children and brother of Xuong Le.
Just days after a suburban Philadelphia family was killed during a shooting and fire that tore through their East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, home, their surviving family members are remembering the "loving" couple and their three children that were killed.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer called it "one of the most terrible tragedies we've had here in years."
In the chaos, two police officers were also hurt by gunfire and the home nearly burned to the ground. Investigators said that a member of the Le family that lived at the home is believed to have killed his younger brother, sister-in-law, nieces and nephews before torching the house.
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While announcing that the bodies of all six family members were found, Stollsteimer said that he hoped the suspected shooter was "suffering in hell for what he did."
A 'loving' family torn apart
Stollsteimer said that six members of the Le family that resided in the home were dead.
The family of Britni McLaughlin-Le later identified her as the woman killed, and the other victims as McLaughlin-Le's "devoted" husband, Xuong Le, and their three children: Natalya Le, 17; Nakayla Le, 13; and Xavier Le, 10. The Delaware County DA's office later confirmed the names.
The McLaughlin family released this statement:
Britni and Xuong were a happily married couple for 17 years, loving and devoted parents to their three children, their extended family, and their beloved friends. Their three children all excelled in academics, the arts, and sports.
Our hearts are broken and we vow to cherish the memories of our loved ones and we will work to ensure that their legacies lives on.
We would like to express our sincere and heartfelt gratitude for your thoughts, prayers, and condolences during this difficult time.
We kindly ask that our privacy be respected in this matter as we are still processing this significant loss.
A source told NBC10 the eldest child in the family attended Penn Wood High School while the two other children attended Penn Wood Middle School and East Lansdowne Elementary School.
The William Penn School District sent a message to the school community on Thursday.
"Like all of you, we are at a loss regarding the horrific tragedy that happened in East Lansdowne yesterday and how that has affected our community. We are still awaiting additional information as this is an ongoing police investigation," a district spokesperson wrote.
"Our focus now is providing support to our students and staff. Counselors will be available today for those who need someone to talk to. We have reached out to the DCIU to provide additional counseling resources, if necessary. If you and your family need additional support, please contact your school principal or counselor. This is a time when we need to be there for each other and to provide reassurance for our students, as it is impossible to make sense of what occurred. If there are any further developments, we will let you know."
Hendrix Chandler, 9, went to East Lansdowne Elementary School with the youngest of the victims who died. He told NBC10 that he and his mom brought stuffed animals and a sign to start a memorial near the scene in honor of his classmate and his family.
“I brought a sign, some teddy bears because I went to school with this kid and he died in the fire and it’s pretty sad,’ Chandler said.
Samantha Bryson, a neighbor, told NBC10 her daughter was also friends with the eldest child in the family.
“They’re just great kids. They’re real quiet. Very good in school. Very well mannered,” Bryson said. “It’s rocked our whole school community because there was a child in junior high, there was one in high school and there was one in elementary school so it’s like everybody feels it.”
The two surviving members of the Le family -- the grandparents of the children -- were able to get outside the home, according to Stollsteimer.
A family friend of the surviving grandparents told NBC10 the Le family moved to the United States in the early 1980s.
The friend said the grandmother told him she was on the first floor of the home on Lewis Avenue in East Lansdowne with her husband Wednesday afternoon when she heard her son arguing with his niece upstairs. The grandmother said she then heard her son shooting a gun.
Gunfire could be heard during a 911 call, and Stollsteimer said Le's mother told authorities he shot one of her grandchildren. Le's mother escaped the house with her husband to seek safety and summon help.
On Friday, Stollsteimer said that Xuong Le's 43-year-old brother, Canh Le, was believed to be the shooter and also the person who ignited the blaze.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.
Stollsteimer said that the Le grandparents had told investigators early on that their son was likely the shooter of their grandchildren.
"They were going through incredible trauma that I still can't imagine," Stollsteimer said Friday. "They have literally lost everything they had, they lost everyone they loved and they lost their home."
Stollsteimer said that investigators didn't have a motive for the shooting. "He just went haywire," Stollsteimer said of the believed shooter.
Court records show that Canh Le was arrested in 2006 in Delaware County and charged with making terroristic threats, trespassing and disorderly conduct. Details of the incident were not immediately available, but the first charge was later dropped and he was put in a diversion program on the two lesser charges, leading him to serve 32 hours of community service and pay $1,400 in fines during a year of probation.
"If this man did shoot his family, which is a horrible evil I cannot even begin to comprehend... that he is going to spend the rest of his life suffering in hell for what he did," Stollsteimer said.
"I think our good Lord is holding this man accountable."
The bodies of the Le family are recovered
Investigators entered the home after daybreak Thursday and recovered three badly burned bodies as well as a partially melted rifle before the end of the day, Stollsteimer said.
"We’ve recovered three bodies total from the house. One is the person we think was shooting at police officers because there was a rifle recovered with that body," Stollsteimer said. "And then there were two more. Looks like, might be a child, and then might be another, either a child or someone relatively young.”
The search resumed Friday and the three remaining bodies of the Le family were recovered.
“We think we have found everybody who was in that house, the Le family, we think have recovered all members of that family,” Stollsteimer said.
The charred remains -- some unrecognizable -- were sent to the medical examiner's office for autopsies. The medical examiner will try to identify the bodies and determine how each person died.
"Our assumption is that they were shot by gunfire and then there was a fire set, but we have no idea whether or not that's true," Stollsteimer said.
The ME will run tests to determine if anyone was still alive when the fire was set. It also wasn't clear where the victims were when they were killed as the roof and floors collapsed into mounds of debris.
If the torso found near the gun is confirmed to be Canh Le then the criminal investigation into the shooting will be closed, Stollsteimer said.
The house was unstable and crews began taking it down Friday afternoon.
House burned amid active shooter situation
During the chaos, investigators believe the gunman intentionally set the house on fire. Intense flames were initially seen rising from the roof and top floor of the three-story home before spreading to the lower levels, largely gutting the structure.
Firefighters were unable to initially fight the rising flames due to the active shooter situation.
"Officers were taking gunfire," Stollsteimer said. "Police officers and the fire department who were out there, there was still shots coming out at the beginning of this fire scene."
The entire block was evacuated as more police, firefighters and a SWAT team arrived at the scene. Cellphone video showed officers crouched down behind a car as the fire raged on.
“All the cops was coming with guns, rifles out,” neighbor Veronica Carrington said. “I said, ‘close the door, leave it closed.’”
The gunfire eventually stopped and by 6 p.m. Wednesday, the fire was mostly under control.
Two officers shot responding to report of child being shot at home
At 3:47 p.m. Wednesday, East Lansdowne Police Officer John Meehan, 44, and Lansdowne Police Officer David Schiazza, 54, responded to the Le family's home for a report of a girl being shot.
When the officers arrived at the scene, a gunman inside the home immediately opened fire, police said.
"I was there, a cop came flying around the corner," Sharon Johnson, a crossing guard who witnessed the shooting, told NBC10. "He got out and then he's in front of the house talking to two people. And then all of a sudden I heard six or seven gunshots. Cops got down on the ground and I ran and took off."
Officer Schiazza was shot once in the leg while Officer Meehan was shot once in the left arm. Responding Upper Darby police officers dragged both of the wounded officers to safety as the gunman continued to fire, investigators said.
"It was because of the Upper Darby Police Department who also responded to that call that these officers are alive today," Stollsteimer said. "They were dragged out of danger by Upper Darby police officers."
Upper Darby Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt said his officers got one of the injured officers into a patrol car and drove him to Penn Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia. Other Upper Darby officers dragged the second injured officer to an ambulance, which took him to Penn Presbyterian.
"Our uniformed patrol responded and saw two officers and they advised our officers that they had been shot," Bernhardt said. "Our officers, numerous officers, responded, got ballistic shields and were able to go onto that street, drag those officers out."
Officer Schiazza was released from the hospital Thursday afternoon.
Officer Meehan, who underwent surgery on his arm, was released from the hospital Friday afternoon.
Both officers are 22-year veterans and are expected to recover.
On Friday, Stollsteimer said that as part of the ongoing investigation, every officer who fired weapons during the shootout would be interviewed.
The DA said that every officer who returned fire toward the home "was completely justified in doing so."
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