A Quarry Bay apartment that was sold for HK$8 million (just over US$1 million) is at the center of a family dispute that resulted in a fatal park shooting that left two people dead and another two seriously injured.
Ada Tsim was arrested soon after allegedly firing four shots at her two aunts and two uncles on Tuesday afternoon. Police today laid a holding charge against the 44-year-old, alleging two counts of murder and two counts of shooting with intent.
Tsim’s 80-year-old aunt Tsim Siu-fun was declared dead at 6:35pm on the day of the shooting, while her 62-year-old uncle Tsim Jun-ki was declared dead at 2:41pm yesterday. Both were shot in the head.
A 72-year-old uncle and a 60-year-old aunt are still in hospital, with the uncle’s condition improving from critical to serious, while the aunt remains in critical condition, Apple Daily reports.
The dispute centers on an apartment on the Nan Fung Sun Chuen housing estate, a 40-year-old private housing estate in a largely middle-class neighborhood in Quarry Bay. The flat is a 20 minute walk from the scene of the shooting.
According to Ming Pao, the flat in question had a saleable area of around 570 square feet and was purchased in 1979 by Tsim Yik-long and Chong Lei-yuk, the suspect’s grandparents, for HK$199,000. Local media outlets have reported that the current market value for similar-sized flats in the same housing estate are somewhere between the HK$7 million to HK$8 million (US$892,000 to US$1 million.)
The suspect’s grandmother passed away in 2010 leaving behind the flat, and the dispute began in 2015 after suspect’s mother Tsim Siu-hing — the older sister of the four victims — passed away.
Ming Pao also reported that the suspect believed there was some foul play as her mother was sent to a nursing home and the flat was sold shortly after her mother had passed away.
The four victims and the suspect reportedly met up at a restaurant in Kornhill Plaza on Tuesday morning to discuss the inheritance issue. A sixth person, a male believed to be the suspect’s brother, was also present at the meeting.
Ming Pao reported that the group met up between 9-10am on Tuesday morning at the restaurant to discuss how to split the proceeds from the sale of the apartment. An eyewitnesses from the restaurant said that the table looked peaceful and there didn’t appear to be any arguments.
That all changed when the group went to Quarry Bay Park shortly after their meal and talks appeared to break down, culminating in the suspect opening fire on her four elderly relatives at about 3pm. The newspaper reports that the suspect’s brother called the police.
According to the SCMP, those who lived in the same Tseung Kwan O apartment complex as the suspect described her as “weird”, “neurotic,” and “intense and grumpy”.
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