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A family in Utah who fled from their home country of Myanmar to avoid being “ethnically cleansed” were slaughtered last week in a “senseless” murder-suicide, with the mother and three of her young kids being gunned down by their father — the woman’s husband — inside of their suburban Salt Lake City-area home, including their 2-year-old daughter, cops say.
Dae Reh, 42, allegedly used a handgun to take out his children and wife last Tuesday, Dec. 17, at their home in West Valley City, a Salt Lake suburb located about 10 miles away from the Utah capital, before turning the weapon on himself. The West Valley City Police Department identified the victims on Dec. 19 through a family statement as Bu Meh, 38, and her children Kristina Ree, 8, Boe Reh, 11, and Nyay Meh, 2. A fifth family member, Sha Reh, who was 17 at the time of the shooting and is now 18, was shot in the head but managed to survive.
“Sha Reh is the lone survivor in his immediate family after a tragic sense of violence,” relatives said in the police statement, which was also posted on a family GoFundMe page. “He has a long and complex road to recovery. He needs our full attention, our unconditional love, and the Savior’s gift of healing and peace.”
Police say the bodies of Bu Meh, Kristina Ree and Nyay Meh were discovered upstairs in the home, while Dae Reh and Boe Reh were both found downstairs. Cops responded to the scene after a relative called the authorities and told them they had “concerns” after not hearing from Bu Meh, who also failed to report to work. The relative said they went to her house to investigate, leading to them finding Sha Reh critically wounded in the garage.
“Sha Reh is our 17-year-old hero,” the family wrote in their statement, which was updated this week with new information about his condition. “We are continuing to see improvement with Sha Reh and pray we will continue to see many more miracles with his recovery.”
According to police and the extended family, Bu Meh was a refugee who moved to the United States with her family “over ten years ago” to escape violence in the Southeast Asian country.
“She fled a violent situation in her home country of Myanmar, where her people were being ethnically cleansed by their government,” the family said. “She came to the United States with her husband and young family with little more than the clothing on their backs. … After moving into their own home and finally enjoying a level of prosperity far beyond the nightmare of their former country or the refugee camp in Thailand in which they lived for a season, and for reasons that we cannot comprehend, her husband robbed her and their children of that security and their very lives.”
Speaking to local media in Utah, neighbors and friends have described Bu Meh’s family as appearing “happy” and having many acquaintances in the local community.
“How can a father shoot his children?” neighbor Mike Webster told CBS affiliate KUTV. “I just can’t grasp for that concept at all. I can just see that poor little 2-year-old looking at her daddy.”
A funeral and memorial was held in their honor at a local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse in Salt Lake City on Saturday — the same day Sha Reh turned 18, according to his family.
“May God give him the strength,” the teen’s uncle-in-law, Laesgaw K’Chawtee, said during the funeral, according to local Fox affiliate KSTU. “May God remind us of the importance of family. Father, give us the spirit to love one again and another.”
