A man and a woman in their 60s have died after a stabbing at a downtown Hamilton apartment building, and police say the couple’s son will be charged in connection with their deaths.
According to Hamilton Police, tenants on the 13th floor of a highrise at 20 George St. called 911 shortly after 12:30 p.m. on Monday, saying a man was stabbing a woman in the hallway.
Officers arrived to find a 34-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman lying in the hallway, suffering from stab wounds.
A 67-year-old man who had also been stabbed was found in a nearby apartment.
All three were rushed to hospital, where the woman was pronounced dead and the older man died in the operating room.
The victims have been identified as Moui Khuu, 61, and Hung Vo, 67.
The couple’s son survived surgery and is in serious but stable condition.
He’s been identified as Phuoc Hoa Vo, 34, and Hamilton police say he remains in a coma but has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Det. Sgt. Peter Thom of the Major Crimes Unit said witnesses were “traumatized” by what they witnessed in the hallway.
“It was a very violent attack on the mother that was witnessed by several of the tenants,” said Thom.
“It’s family trouble. Very sad, very brutal.”
Thom said the three had been living together in the apartment since late last year, having moved to Hamilton from Burlington.
While investigators believe it was a family dispute that led to the stabbings, it’s not clear exactly what motivated the son to violence, although there was a history of animosity between Vo and his father.
Thom said Vo had received a conditional discharge in connection with a previous charge related to a weapons offence and threatening his father, although the details of that conditional discharge aren’t immediately clear.
He was, however, permitted to be living in the same residence.
“The last dispute was with the father,” said Thom. “And it seems, like any parents, they want their kids to be welcomed back to the family. And that seems to be what the situation was here, regardless of the previous incident.”
Investigators have recovered an “edged weapon” that was used in the attack but haven’t indicated what that weapon is.
Thom said Vo and Khuu also had two daughters, who are “devastated” by the deaths of their parents.