COSTA MESA : Note Left by Killer of Wife, Son, Self

A man who fatally shot his wife and 4-year-old son before killing himself Saturday left a note claiming responsibility, but authorities said Monday they may never know why he committed the murder-suicide.

Police Sgt. Mike Millington said the note by Henry (Hung) Ngoc Lam, 40, was found at the scene. The note did not say why Lam killed his wife and a son but spared others in the home.

“He left a note taking responsibilities for his actions, and the case is closed,” Millington said.

Lam’s body and that of his son, Davis, were found Saturday night in a car outside their apartment at Foxhollow Village in the 600 block of West Wilson Street, police said.

The body of his wife, Lien Do Lam,30, was found inside the apartment. Investigators found a handgun at the crime scene, but Millington would not specify where.

The couple’s other son, 10-year-old Nam, was on the ground floor of the two-story apartment when he heard a shot and saw his father running downstairs and outside, apartment manager Ernie Palkoner said Monday. Nam then ran upstairs and found his mother in the master bedroom. The boys’ grandfather was also in the apartment at the time of the shootings.

“This is horrible. From 7:15 p.m. Saturday when Nam ran over here to tell us that his father had shot his mom, we’ve pushed all our other problems aside and we’ve thought of nothing but this,” Palkoner said.

Palkoner speculated that the Lams might have had financial troubles, saying he had received several telephone requests to verify Henry Lam’s address.

Lande Weissman, who has lived at Foxhollow since 1978 and saw the Lams move in next door about a year ago, said family members were pleasant but kept largely to themselves.

“They were beautiful people--she was just beautiful,” Weissman said. “We’ve only had the most token of exchanges. We’d wave at each other, I’d come over to borrow some onions, the kids would play out front. And then this.”