A former student of the University of California campus at Irvine, took his mother to the campus on December 13 and threw her off a multistory building at the School of Social Sciences. He then jumped from the building to the ground below, in an apparent murder-suicide.
Andrew Nguyen Doan and his elderly mother, Thao Nguyen, 77, were found dead outside 214 Pereira Drive at around 4 pm on Tuesday, police said.
Police don’t know what the motive was, but say they had interacted with Doan on multiple occasions in the past, including in 2019 in an incident related to Doan’s mental health.
The school’s spokesperson, Tom Vasich, spoke to the media and said that Doan went to the university between 2017 and 2019 and studied biological sciences, but had not graduated. He did not have a current relationship with the school.
While at a psychiatric hospital sometime in 2019, Doan sexually battered his roommate and was arrested. He was released from custody after his mother posted a bail of $100,000. He later pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 156 days in jail and three years probation, which ended last July, and he was out on the streets again, according to Orange County Superior Court records.
Nguyen and Doan lived together in Irvine. A neighbor, Michael Bertin, said of Doan, ”He was a troublesome young man. It’s like he had demons. It’s a horrible thing.”
The neighbor said the mother, Nguyen was a quiet lady that he would often see gardening. He had never seen the woman and her son arguing.