Canadian military reservist blamed for death of five

OAK BAY, B.C. — A military reservist with a violent record killed his estranged wife, their young son and her parents at the family home in this wealthy suburb of Victoria, then committed suicide, police said.

Saanich police identified those who died in the family home as Peter Hyun Joon Lee, 38, a master seaman with HMCS Malahat, a reserve unit in Victoria; his wife, Sunny Yong Sun Park, 32, with whom he owned The Guru of Korea Bar and Grill in Victoria; their 6-year-old son Christian; Kum Lea Chun, 59; and Moon Kyu Park, 66.

Autopsies were pending, but Regional Coroner Rose Stanton said the cause of death would be announced only after "we review all the evidence," although she described the way they died as obvious and clearly a murder-suicide.

"The police have seized a weapon that they believed caused all the wounds," Stanton said.

Three bodies, include the child's, were found Tuesday in a bedroom barricaded with furniture and two were "on the other side of the barricade" in a hallway, she said.

Lee, a part-time member of the Malahat, had been with the unit for a dozen years, most recently as a port inspection diver who conducted underwater assessments of ports and ships, said Sub-Lt. Peggy Kulmala, a spokeswoman for the reserve unit.

He would not have had access to weapons or explosives in his job and he hadn't been on duty at all in August, but "all reserves, similar with regular force, must maintain military occupation qualifications as well as standards of Canadian Forces," Kulmala said. "That does include ... weapons proficiency."

Lee and his wife were involved in a contested divorce, and he had a string of run-ins with the courts. He was scheduled for two court appearances next week, including one on charges that he tried to harm or kill his wife by driving his Land Rover head-on into a telephone pole.

Rejecting police advice, a judge ordered Lee released after a court appearance on Aug. 1. One of the conditions for release was that he stay away from his wife.

The restaurateur was also facing two small-claims court lawsuits by employees, one claiming he assaulted a woman twice and the other asserting he owed wages.

A next-door neighbor, Bert Vandergeest, said the family moved in a few months ago and a "For Sale" sign went up last week.