Vila 1
Trouble in Paradise: The Quadruple Murder-Suicide of San Jose
Monica Vila
English 1302.P03
June 25, 2019
Vila 2
On Sunday, June 23, 2019, at 8:30 p.m., the San Jose Police received multiple reports
about hearing gunfire on Habbitts Court Umbarger Road near Sentar Road in Santa Clara County
in California.
1
On one of the reports, a caller specifically stated that there were “six gunshots and
subjects [were] in a verbal” altercation.”
2
Nearly five hours after the first 911 call came in,
officers entered the home where the alleged gunfire was coming from and found three dead
bodies, including the gunman, with gunshot wounds.
3
Chi Dinh Ta should be charged with four
counts of first-degree murder for the killing of four relatives because there was a motive, illegal
use of prohibited weapon, and his wife witnessed two of the murders.
The first reason Chi Dinh Ta should be charged with first-degree murder is because of the
fact that he had a motive for killing four of his relatives. The suspected gunman had been
identified by law-enforcement sources and neighbors as 66-year-old Chi Dinh Ta.
4
Ta fatally
shot four family members because he was jealous that his wife was able to sponsor her relatives
from Vietnam for visas while he could not because of his felony record, a family relative
revealed to Bay Area News Group.
5
“As investigators tried to figure out what triggered Ta to the
1
Ethan Baron, Mark Gomez, and Robert Salonga, “Neighbor: Gunman’s wife jumped fence to
flee gunfire in San Jose quadruple murder-suicide,” The Mercury News, last modified June 25,
2019, https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/23/san-jose-five-people-killed-quadruple-murder-
suicide/.
2
Ibid
3
Associated Press, “San Jose man killed 4 in rage over visas before turning gun on himself,
family member says,” Los Angeles Times, last modified June 26, 2019,
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-san-jose-murder-suicide-update-20190626-
story.html.
4
Ethan Baron, Mark Gomez, and Robert Salonga, “Neighbor: Gunman’s wife jumped fence to
flee gunfire in San Jose quadruple murder-suicide,” The Mercury News, last modified June 25,
2019, https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/23/san-jose-five-people-killed-quadruple-murder-
suicide/.
5
Karen D’Souza, Robert Salonga, John Woolfolk, and Thy Vo, “San Jose murder-suicide
gunman angry over Vietnamese family sponsorship, relative says,” The Mercury News, last
modified June 27, 2019, https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/25/update-san-jose-murder-
suicide-gunman-angry-over-vietnamese-family-sponsorship-relative-says/.
Vila 3
shooting rampage, To Van Khuat, whose wife is cousin with Ta’s wife, stated in an interview
that Ta often spoke to him about his troubles with his family.”
6
Khuat stated, “He was jealous his
wife was able to sponsor her family and he was not able to bring his family here because of
things in his record…[that] was the cause.”
7
Khuat said in the interview, “He called me [and]
said, “Would you take my daughter?”
8
Khuat continued, “He said he was going to kill them. He
had said things like this before, but I had always talked him down, calmed him down.”
9
“San
Jose police confirmed Monday morning that three women and one man were shot to death by a
man who then killed himself at a home on Habbitts Court, in what appears to be a family or
domestic conflict, based on emergency calls to police.”
10
Sgt. Enrique Garcia, a spokesman for
the San Jose Police Department, stated that around 8:40 p.m. on Sunday, officers responded to
multiple calls about a close by shooting near the Santa Clara County fairgrounds
11
Ta’s wife was
one of the many people from the neighborhood who called 911 when her husband started
shooting.
12
On dispatch recording, it revealed her description of running away from her home
when her husband opened fire.
13
Alan Bui, a next-door neighbor, was in his backyard with his
6
Ibid
7
Ibid
8
Ibid
9
Ibid
10
Dylan Bouscher, “Listen: San Jose quadruple murder–suicide dispatch audio,” The Mercury
News, last modified June 24, 2019, https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/24/listen-san-jose-
quadruple-murder-suicide-dispatch-audio/.
11
Associated Press, “San Jose man killed 4 in rage over visas before turning gun on himself,
family member says,” Los Angeles Times, last modified June 26, 2019,
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-san-jose-murder-suicide-update-20190626-
story.html.
12
Ethan Baron, Mark Gomez, and Robert Salonga, “Neighbor: Gunman’s wife jumped fence to
flee gunfire in San Jose quadruple murder-suicide,” The Mercury News, last modified June 25,
2019, https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/23/san-jose-five-people-killed-quadruple-murder-
suicide/.
13
Ibid
Vila 4
son when Bui heard arguing that was quickly followed by rapid succession of pops that other
neighbors claimed it sounded like firecrackers.
14
“So basically I heard gunshots, and I took my
kid and my wife into the master bedroom and hid. But I accidentally left the sliding door open,”
Bui said Monday afternoon.
15
“The wife jumped the fence and ran into my house, and then she
locked the door in my kid’s room.”
16
After seeing Ta’s wife hide in his house, Bui ran outside to
close all other doors to his house and witnessed Ta standing in the street, Bui stated “I saw him
asking, looking for his wife.”
17
According to witness accounts given to police, [Ta’s] wife and
17-year-old daughter were among several other family members who were able to escape the
home after the gunfire started.
18
The second reason Chi Dinh Ta should be charged with first-
degree murder is because of the fact that he illegally obtained a firearm he was prohibited from
possessing. According to records from the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, Ta was prohibited from owning or possessing any firearms or ammunition
because of three 1988 felony convictions in Orange County for second-degree robbery,
attempted second-degree robbery and criminal conspiracy, in which he only served two years of
