A former student at the University of California, Irvine threw his mother off a high-rise campus building before killing himself.
The incident happened Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the university’s Social Sciences Plaza B, Irvine police said.
The victim has been identified as Thao Tay Nguyen, 77, of Irvine. The suspect has been identified as her son, Andrew Doan, 36, of Irvine.
Investigators say Doan picked up Nguyen and threw her off the building’s landing. Doan then jumped to his death.
3 dead, 1 injured in Portland murder-suicide
Detectives are investigating a suspected murder-suicide at the University of Irvine on Tuesday.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
UCI spokesman Tom Vasich told the Los Angeles Times that Doan was a biological sciences major at UC Irvine from September 2017 to June 2019, but did not graduate.
Police have contacted him several times before. The last one happened in 2019 and was linked to “mental health issues”, the statement said.
Investigators are trying to determine the motive for the murder-suicide, police said.
UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman said the university is “fully cooperating” with police as they continue to investigate the deaths.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a written statement that the university is cooperating “fully” with police as they continue to investigate the deaths.
“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families at this time,” Gillman said. “However, there are also members of the UCI community who have been contacted to assist with the investigation and share their knowledge of what happened.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.