The married coronavirus researcher killed in a suspected murder-suicide in Pennsylvania was gunned down over “a lengthy dispute” about an “intimate partner,” police revealed Wednesday.
A probe into the deaths of University of Pittsburgh scientist Bing Liu, 37, and Hao Gu, 46, found the pair was squabbling about a mystery companion whom Ross Township police would not identify.
“We found zero evidence that this tragic event has anything to do with employment at the University of Pittsburgh, any work being conducted at the University of Pittsburgh and the current heath crisis affecting the United States and the world,” the statement read.
Investigators forwarded their review of the case to federal authorities since the “individuals involved” are not US citizens, police said.
Detectives have previously said that Liu — a native of China — and Gu knew each other, but evidence showed the shooting had nothing to do with the assistant professor’s ongoing COVID-19 research.
Liu was found Saturday shot several times in the head, neck and torso in his Ross townhouse. Police believe Gu, of Pittsburgh, then got into his car parked about 100 yards away and killed himself, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Note: I read in a different source that the car belonged to Dr. Bing Liu.
Nothing was stolen from the home, police said, and Liu’s wife was not home during the slaying.
Liu, an assistant professor in Pitt medical school’s department of computational and systems biology, and his wife, who had no children, largely kept to themselves, neighbors told the newspaper.
Dr. Ivet Bahar, head of the computational and system biology department at Pitt’s School of Medicine, said Liu was an accomplished academic making significant strides on a coronavirus research project focusing on the bug’s infection mechanism.
“He has been contributing to several scientific projects, publishing in high-profile journals,” Bahar told the Post-Gazette. “He was someone whom we all liked very much, a very gentle, very helpful, kind person, very generous. We are all shocked to learn what happened to him. This was very unexpected.”
As I mentioned in the post, I read that Hao Gu was found dead in Dr. Bing Liu's car, most reports say it was his car. If it was indeed Liu's car, it's curious to note that the location was on a different street, 100 yards away from Liu's building. Looking at the map it occurred to me that it could be possible that a third party was involved (that was before I read this article). I also wondered if there was something between the two men (such as a gay relationship or some other personal involvement).
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kestrel9 ago
Note: I read in a different source that the car belonged to Dr. Bing Liu.
@MercurysBall2
kestrel9 ago
As I mentioned in the post, I read that Hao Gu was found dead in Dr. Bing Liu's car, most reports say it was his car. If it was indeed Liu's car, it's curious to note that the location was on a different street, 100 yards away from Liu's building. Looking at the map it occurred to me that it could be possible that a third party was involved (that was before I read this article). I also wondered if there was something between the two men (such as a gay relationship or some other personal involvement).
MercurysBall2 ago
And that article is from the publication that Larry Celona writes for. You remember him, right? In this article his name appears as an additional reporter with Joshua Rhett Miller,the 'journalist' on your article https://nypost.com/2019/06/28/former-nypd-cop-indicted-on-murder-charge-in-new-orleans/
kestrel9 ago
Interesting note thanks. For people's reference Larry Celona of the NY Post, the guy who broke the Epstein 'committed suicide' story, makes an appearance in the NYC coronavirus saga The plot thickens...