PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania, US), Feb 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The remains of six family members have been recovered from a burned home in southeastern Pennsylvania, including those of a man who is believed to have shot two police officers on Wednesday, the authorities said on Friday.
Jack Stollsteimer, the Delaware County district attorney, said at a news conference on Friday afternoon that the recovery of the bodies was “gruesome work” that had lasted into Friday.
Stollsteimer said on Thursday that three adults and three children had been feared dead in a fiery episode that began on Wednesday afternoon when the police responded to a report that an 11-year-old girl had been shot at a home in East Lansdowne, Pa., just west of Philadelphia.
When police officers arrived at the home, they were immediately met with gunfire, and two officers were injured, according to Stollsteimer. Some time after the officers were shot, the home burst into flames, and officials had to wait overnight for the fire to subside before they could begin recovering the bodies, Stollsteimer said.
One of the police officers was shot in the leg, and another was shot in the forearm, Stollsteimer said, adding that they had both sustained “serious traumatic injuries.”
The names of the dead people were not released by officials on Friday. Stollsteimer referred to them only as the Le family.
“From seeing it firsthand, these are charred remains,” Stollsteimer said. “They are unrecognizable human beings. Not only was there an intense fire, but the building collapsed on these folks as they were in there.”
Stollsteimer said that based on information given to the authorities from grandparents in the Le family, Canh Le was suspected of shooting one of his young nieces, “which is unbelievable.”
Chin Le, the mother of Le, told WPVI on Friday that her son was the gunman. She told the station that Le was dead and that it was believed that the others who died in the episode were her other son, Xuong Le; his wife, Britni McLaughlin-Le; and their three children, NaKayla, 13, NaTayla, 17, and Xavier, 10.
Many questions still remained on Friday, including what had prompted the episode, whether Le had also shot other members of his family and how the fire had begun. — NNN-AGENCIES
