Police in New York have charged Cornell University student Charles Tan with murder in the shooting of his father on Tuesday.
According to Tina MacIntyre and Neeti Upadhye of Democrat & Chronicle, New York authorities say that 19-year-old Tan "fired multiple rounds" at his father, 49-year-old Liang Tan, with a shotgun at their home, located in a wealthy Rochester suburb. Court documents indicated that the father was shot on the chest, arm, neck and face inside the home Monday evening.
"I would have never expected it," 20-year-old Alex Woodard, a classmate in Tan's 2013 Pittsford Mendon graduating class, said. "From what I know of him, I don't see him as a cold-blooded killer."
Democrat & Chronicle reported that Tan was arraigned Tuesday on a second-degree murder charge in Pittsford Town Court. Police said that they responded to the Tan home shortly after 6 p.m. Monday in response to a domestic dispute.
"When deputies arrived, they found Tan and his mother, Qing Tan, standing outside the house," MacIntyre and Upadhye wrote.
Monroe County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Drew Forsythe told Democrat & Chronicle that Tan's father was found inside with gunshot wounds to his upper body. Police also claimed that they found a shotgun in the garage during a property search on Tuesday.
Neighbors living close to the Tan home, such as Samantha LiMuti, had good things to say about Tan; she called him "the sweetest boy" who interacted positively with her children. Democrat & Chronicle reported that many of them are still processing the news of a homicide that happened near them.
"I heard yelling numerous times, even with the house closed up," LiMuti said in reference to a domestic incident she heard while out playing with her children in the front yard.
Former neighbor Angie Faust, who now lives in San Antonio, told Democrat & Chronicle that she heard the news from friends in the neighborhood who called and texted her. She thought that Tan was "a great neighbor and a really good kid."
"Whenever he saw I needed assistance, he was right there," Faust said, referring to help she received from him while working with her children at the YMCA in that area.
Faust added that she felt "bade for the family and everyone involved," noting that it was a "heartbreaking" situation.
NBC News reported that Tan was a sophomore at Cornell University, while his father was the president and CEO of Dynamax Imaging in Canandaigua, N.Y. The university issued a statement about the incident.
"A student by the name of Charles John Tan, of Pittsford, N.Y., is enrolled as a sophomore in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University," the university wrote. "Cornell University is not involved in the Pittsford investigation and consequently we have no comment on that investigation. Our thoughts are with the family during this difficult time."
Police have told NBC News that they have previously been called to the Tan residence on multiple occasions due to domestic-related incidents. Another neighbor, Tracy Berry, admitted that it was "a common occurrence throughout the year" seeing the police in the neighborhood.
"When I saw them last night, I wasn't surprised because I have seen it before," Berry said. "But I was very shocked and disappointed it has come to what it has."
NBC News reported that Tan was arraigned Tuesday morning and remanded to the Monroe County Jail without bail.
