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Man kills wife's ex-husband, stepdaughter
An unidentified injured person is carried to an ambulance in front of a house in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, where a man took his stepdaughters, their birthfather and a family friend hostage, Tuesday. The birthfather and one of the girls died during the hostage situation. / Yonhap
By Lee Kyung-min
By Lee Kyung-min
Police apprehended a man who held four people hostage and killed two of them, one stepdaughter and her birthfather, Tuesday.
The 47-year-old suspect surnamed Kim, who had been separated from his wife since August, held the hostages at the house of his wife’s ex-husband in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, demanding she come to talk to him, according to police.
The four hostages included his two stepdaughters, their birthfather surnamed Park, and a female friend of Park in her 40s, police said.
According to police, Kim went to Park’s house on Monday afternoon, suspecting she was seeing Park again. The younger stepdaughter, 16, and Park’s friend was there at that time.
When Park came home at 9 p.m., Kim fought with him and stabbed him. He left the body in the bathroom. The elder stepdaughter came home later, and Kim tied the three up.
Kim called his wife Tuesday morning and said he was taking her two daughters hostage. She called the police who then went to the house and tried to negotiate with him, demanding he surrender.
But Kim was in an agitated state, yelling and cursing, police said.
In the afternoon, Kim told police via phone that he would surrender, but hung up the phone and did not answer again. Police SWAT team then stormed the house by breaking a window and captured Kim.
They found Park dead and the younger stepdaughter seriously injured. The girl was transferred to hospital but was later pronounced dead. Kim said he stabbed the girl in the morning in a rage while talking with his wife on the phone.
The wife was taken to a shelter, and the elder stepdaughter and Park’s friend were taken to hospital.
“They did not sustain physical harm, but all are in shock and in a condition unable to give testimony,” a police officer at the Ansan Sangrok Police Station said.
“We suspect Park was killed Monday based on Kim’s testimony, and are examining the body.”
The official said they do not know yet whether Kim’s wife and Park really saw each other as Kim suspected. They divorced in 2006 and the wife remarried Kim the next year.
“Kim killed Park although he saw Park’s female friend at the house who may have been his girlfriend. We are investigating whether Kim murdered Park over a misunderstanding or for other reasons,” he said.
Police plan to ask the prosecution to request an arrest warrant for Kim on murder charges.