Woman killed, her parents shot
Senta Scarborough and Ty Young
The Arizona Republic
May. 19, 2006 12:00 AM
A man involved in a contentious court battle with his ex-wife apparently shot and killed her Thursday in Mesa before driving to a townhouse about a mile away in Tempe and shooting her parents, police said.
Mesa police said Wen Lie Zhang, 41, is suspected of gunning down Jian-Yun Zhao, 36, about 1:15 p.m. inside Golden Gate Chinese Restaurant near Loop 101 and Baseline Road, where she worked as a waitress. About 15 minutes later, Zhang shot the woman’s parents at a home near Lakeshore Drive and Baseline Road, a mile from the restaurant, police said.
A Tempe police dispatch supervisor said late Thursday that the couple were expected to survive.
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Zhang, who had not been found as of late Thursday, is described as about 5 feet 10 and 160 pounds.
Police said that he was driving a green 1996 Ford Thunderbird with Arizona license plate NVY303 and that he could be headed for Tucson.
The couple had been married for 10 years and divorced for two. Zhang was an engineer at Raytheon in Tucson.
Zhang and Zhao were to be in court Wednesday for a hearing on custody issues, including parental time and modifying child support, but Zhang did not show, police said.
In February, a judge ordered Zhang to pay 78 percent of their debt and gave them joint custody of their 9-year-old son.
During the custody battle last year, Zhang, representing himself, claimed his ex-wife wasn’t caring for their son’s medical needs.
Zhang and his ex-wife stopped living together in January 2003 when she filed for divorce, court records show. She lived with her parents. Zhao worked as a waitress at the Golden Gate in Mesa for four years. She graduated from high school in China and attended English-language classes at Mesa Community College.
On Thursday, Peter Anderson, office manager at Anderson Animal Clinic, said he was leaving his office at 11:30 a.m. and found a man fitting Zhang’s description crouching between the restaurant’s rear entrance and a storage building.
Anderson said he confronted the man about moving his car, and the man drove off on Baseline Road.
“He didn’t act too disturbed that I asked him about the car,” Anderson said.
Mesa police said they received a 911 call from the restaurant at 1:15 p.m. and found Zhao with a gunshot wound. She was dead at the scene.
Her parents were shot a few minutes later at the townhouse, and the shooter fled.
A toddler was taken from the home unharmed.
The townhouse was partitioned off for hours as police interviewed neighbors, who said Zhao’s parents kept to themselves.
“We saw them, said ‘hi’ and stuff, but they didn’t stand out or anything,” said Mike Doria, who lives in the complex.
Neighbor Samantha Sapio and her husband, Paul, have lived there four years.
“I think it’s horrible,” she said. “It makes me worry that this guy is still on the loose.”
In Mesa, Roseanne Newton, who owns nearby Tumbleweed Stained Glass, said a Golden Gate restaurant employee told her a man came through the restaurant’s back door and shot Zhao twice.
4 responses so far ↓
1 wanito // May 19, 2006 at 12:06 pm
The reason this guy shot his wife probably was because it sounds like he and his wife were originally from an asian country. And, believe me, in asian culture, the man is held in very high regard. And, the courts and the wives are very conscious of that cultural understanding and allow him the dignity, respect and recognition he deserves.You would never see a man driven to this kind of act there because of the taking of his children, property and possesions from him in those family courts, like it has become the “business standard” here in the US. In asian countries that have been influenced by the US though, like Japan, Korea etc, the divorce rate has skyrocketed from it’s “pre US” numbers. I wonder why? Poor guy, he probably came to the US thinking that it was going to be the land of “opportunity” for him and his family. Little did he know that his wife would be corrupted by the US talk shows telling women that they work 24 hrs day as a homemaker and so he should do housework too after he’s put in a hard day at work. Or, the US feminists telling women to put their desires and goals first before their family. When they find this guy they’ll probably kill him. His death, along with his poor wife’s will be 2 more lives needlessly taken, and, once again, the responsible party will be the US domestic relations system.
John Alvarez
j5alvr@aol.com
2 Jim Deeny // May 19, 2006 at 1:56 pm
Asian murder/suicide rates are sky-rocketing here in the US. I just read that today in Yahoo news.
Sad thing is that the laws will even be tougher on the men because the man commited the crime, and so will the laws governing men as well.
Just give it time, soon you’ll see men getting married with supervised visits just see the wife and kids and she gets 55% of his income. As the preacher will read, to death do you part (I do) and supervised visits as mandated by the state (I do), I now pronounce you wife and husband.
3 jungelfevr // May 19, 2006 at 3:53 pm
i agree with you jim. the laws are tougher on men. a man cannot even say “boo” without fearing jail time and the loss of his child (ren) , but a woman can “take a man’s life” by removing him from the lives of his child (ren), takeing his home and makeing sure she takes enough of his money to ensure he will never have a descent life again. yet nothing is being done to the woman, they are infact being rewarded for this horrid criminal act.
i think in the future the preacher should say…
Do you take this woman to be your partner untill she doesn’t want you anymore, to see your children only when she wants to comply with supervised visitations as mandated by the state. to give her 50% or more of your income while she makes false allegations against you and allienates your children from you? I do. I now pronounce you respondant and petitioner.
4 reedwrite // May 23, 2006 at 11:44 pm
Now that’s some hilarious shit, Jungle. Mind if I use it in my next script?
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