The SFPD held a community meeting in Ingleside last night to discuss the developments in the investigation of the Howth Street murders on March 23. They tried to allay neighbors' fears that this incident reflected any uptick in crime in the area (there was another, unrelated murder on April 1 just a couple blocks away), maintaining that this was an isolated incident, however they remain unwilling to discuss what the motive may have been for prime suspect Binh Thai Luc. They also said that they are still searching for two weapons used in the murders one a sharp-edged instrument, and one a blunt instrument of some kind.
Luc pleaded not guilty last week to the murder of five people with the special circumstances of committing multiple murders, committing murder while committing robbery, and lying in wait the latter due to the fact that it appears Vincent Lei, the 32-year-old son of the two elderly victims, may have been Luc's main target, and he waited in the home for Lei to arrive, perhaps murdering him last in the front hallway.
Early on in the investigation, KTVU claimed to have spoken to a reliable source who cited gambling debts as a possible motive and this might make since given that Luc had ties to a Vietnamese gang. One community member, May Wong of the Excelsior District Improvement Association, spoke up at last night's meeting saying that these reports about gambling debts "all had to do with Asian stereotypes." The SFPD did not deny this as a possible motive, saying they did not yet have a confirmed motive, and added, "And if we did know, we couldn't reveal it."
Luc remains incarcerated on $25 million bail.
