Family massacre suspect was passed up for promotion before shooting, court documents reveal

By Courtney Carpenter

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    CYPRESS, Texas (KTRK) — The man charged in the murders of a family of four in the Cypress area that went unsolved for eight years is waiting to be extradited from California to Texas.

For years there were no new leads in a January 2014 massacre that led to the shooting deaths of two parents – father Maoye Sun and his wife Mei Xie – and their two small children – 9-year-old Timothy and 7-year-old Titus.

New information from court documents gives a look at what police believe led up to the unthinkably gruesome tragedy.

This past Sunday — more than eight years after the Sun family was killed — 58-year-old Feng Lu was arrested in California and charged with capital murder in connection to their deaths.

Court documents reveal that this all may have started because of an issue at work.

During an interview with investigators, Lu told police he asked Sun for a recommendation for a promotion.

Lu told police he heard that Sun did not provide the recommendation, so he called him to ask why he didn’t give it. Sun reportedly told Lu he did recommend him, the documents state.

When Lu went back to work the next day, he told police he felt he was being “treated differently” by his coworkers and said he thought Sun said something derogatory about him to his coworkers after their phone call, and that’s why he wasn’t selected for the promotion.

According to court documents, Lu bought a gun on Jan. 23. Investigators believe he used that same gun to kill the Sun family two days later.

Investigators believe the Suns were shot in their Coles Crossing home sometime on Friday, Jan. 24, 2014. Their bodies weren’t discovered until the father failed to show up to work the following Monday.

Lu told investigators he didn’t know the rest of the Sun family, or where they lived. However, court documents say DNA evidence contradicts that statement.

An arrest made in the case is a big deal all of these years later, especially for some members of the Chinese-American community who said they felt like the case had been forgotten.

“To know that they stayed on it, that somebody was under suspicion, and they waited until the right time to make an arrest, is very gratifying,” Community Leader Rogene Gee Calvert said. “I will speak for the community. I know when the word gets out and more people hear, it will definitely restore our faith in law enforcement.”

Lu was arrested on Sunday in the San Francisco Bay Area as he arrived back to the states from China. He is currently in the San Mateo County Jail — awaiting extradition back to Texas.

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