A Utah mother killed with three children was a refugee fleeing violence in Myanmar

A Utah mother who police believe was shot and killed by her husband along with three of her children was a refugee who fled violence in Myanmar and dreamed of making it with his family in the United States. relatives said Thursday.

Police believe the husband killed his family before shooting himself and that a teenage son was seriously injured.

The bodies of 38-year-old Bu Meh and her daughters Kristina Ree, 8, and Nyay Meh, 2, and son Boe Reh, 11, were found Tuesday at their home in West Valley City, a suburb of Salt Lake City. A handgun was found underneath the father, Dae Reh, 42, leading police to believe it was a murder-suicide, but no evidence of a motive has been released.

One child, 17-year-old Sha Reh, survived being shot in the head but is hospitalized with a serious brain injury, police said.

Bu Meh, a member of Myanmar’s Karenni ethnic minority, fled what her relatives described as ethnic cleansing in the Southeast Asian country about a decade ago. She and her small family lived in a refugee camp in Thailand for several months and then came to the United States “with little more than the clothes on their backs,” the family said in a statement.

She taught herself English, learned new skills and worked hard to support her growing family, and had achieved a way of life “far beyond the nightmare of her former country or refugee camp,” the family said.

“For reasons we cannot understand, her husband robbed her and her children of that security and their life,” her family said.

Police believe the shooting happened over the weekend.

Police initially went to the home Monday evening after a relative asked them to check on the family, but found no signs of an emergency that would allow them entry to the home. The relative went to the house on Tuesday, saw the wounded Sha Reh in the garage and called the police, who found the bodies in the house.

In their statement, relatives called Sha Reh their “hero” and said he faces a “long and complex road to recovery,” according to the family. An online fundraiser is raising money to pay for his care and keep him going to school.

Neighbors reported no shots fired in the area over the weekend, police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku said at a press conference on Wednesday. The family has no prior reports of domestic violence or other disturbances.

This case in Utah is the 38th mass killing in the United States this year. At least 165 people have died in mass killings in the United States this year. The FBI defines these as cases in which four or more people die within 24 hours, not including the murderer.