Taekwondo instructor under arrest, 'murder charges expected' after three found dead
Taekwondo instructor Kwang Kyung Yoo has been arrested and remains under police guard in hospital in relation to the deaths.
A taekwondo instructor has been arrested and is under police guard in hospital after a man, his wife and a seven-year-old boy were found dead across two properties in Sydney yesterday, with police expected to lay murder charges.
Steven Cho, 39, was found dead in the kitchen of his Baulkham Hills home by police at 10am on Tuesday. Cho's wife Min, 41, and a seven-year-old boy were allegedly fatally assaulted at Lion’s Taekwondo Martial Arts Academy in North Parramatta on Monday night, with police making the grisly discovery at 12.30pm on Tuesday.
The two locations are just five kilometres apart. Instructor Kwang Kyung Yoo, 49 — known as Master Lion — of the same taekwondo academy where Ms Cho and the boy were found dead, presented himself to hospital early late on Monday night with stab wounds to his arms and torso that required "urgent surgery".
Murder charges expected, police say
Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty confirmed this morning in a press conference that Yoo is under arrest and is recovering in hospital under police guard. He is in a stable condition. The victims were all known to one another, he said.
"We intend on laying charges, and they'll be three murder charges" Doherty said on Wednesday.
Yoo reportedly told medical staff when he presented in hospital he was wounded at the academy, also that day sending a text to parents advising the afternoon classes would be cancelled due to "a car crash".
Police theory on how Sydney family were killed
It is believed the taekwondo instructor’s presentation to the Westfield Hospital emergency department prompted the police investigation, which led them to the discovery of the bodies inside the martial arts studio and the unit complex.
Police will allege he fatally assaulted Mrs Cho and the child at the martial arts academy following the adult evening Taekwondo class, sometime between 5.30pm and 6.30pm on Monday. They allege he then travelled to a Baulkham Hills townhouse in Mrs Cho’s white BMW where he confronted her husband Steven, 39, before allegedly stabbing him to death.
It's believed the family are of Korean descent, with Australian authorities working to notify the families.
NSW Fire and Rescue were seen on Tuesday covering the windows of the studio to prevent pedestrians and bystanders from seeing the gruesome scene. Residents nearby to the Baulkham Hills unit reportedly said they "didn’t hear anything" and described the death as both "shocking” and "surprising", The Daily Telegraph reported.
with NCA
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