The University of California, Irvine, campus was the scene of a tragic murder-suicide that claimed the lives of a mother and son on Tuesday, Dec. 13.
On that day, Andrew Nguyen Doan, 36, who was previously a student at the university, threw his 77-year-old mother Thao Nguyen off a multi-story campus building before jumping to his own death around 4 p.m., as confirmed by investigators on Wednesday, Dec, 14.
The motive behind Doan’s actions remains unknown. However, authorities revealed that they had previously encountered him on multiple occasions. The Irvine Police Department had last engaged with him in 2019 regarding a mental health issue during his time as a student at the university.
Although Doan had pursued a major in biological sciences at UCI from September 2017 to June 2019, he did not graduate and was no longer associated with the institution.
In 2019, Doan was admitted to a mental institution where he reportedly sexually assaulted his roommate, according to a spokesperson from the Orange County district attorney’s office. Despite being arrested, he was released on bail posted by his mother. Following a guilty plea, Doan was sentenced to 156 days in jail and three years of probation, which concluded in July of this year, as per records from the Orange County Superior Court.
Doan and Nguyen were residents of Irvine, where their neighbor Michael Bertin described Doan as a troubled individual, saying, “He had demons. It’s a horrible thing.”