They didn’t see it coming.
Police say Bao and Jenny Lam, both 61, went out to eat last Thursday and arrived home at their gated community in Houston, Texas, later that night, according to KETV7.
The married couple parked their car in the garage, police say, and stepped out of the vehicle.
That’s when the ambush happened, ABC13 reported. Around 20 minutes before the Lams got home, police say surveillance footage caught someone parking a black Lincoln Navigator outside the gate before two people crawled under it. It’s believed the couple was forced into their home after being attacked inside their garage.
Once the couple was inside, police told ABC News that both Bao and Jenny Lam “were bound, robbed, and murdered.” They were found dead with gunshot wounds and their feet and hands tied up.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the couple was “executed” and the thieves drove away in their Porsche. But the sheriff added that the most “brazen” part of the crime is that the alleged thieves continued to steal more things from the $800,000 home while Bao and Jenny were still dead inside.
According to the Houston Chronicle, surveillance video captured two men entering the house “multiple times” in the days following the killings to likely steal more items like jewelry and rifles, Gonzalez said.
Meanwhile, Richard Lam wondered what happened to his parents. They hadn’t returned his calls in two days, the Chronicle reported, so he decided to pay them a visit on Saturday. But no one answered the door — so he broke in through a window to find his parents shot dead and bound.
Three men named Aakiel Kendrick, 21, Erick Peralta, 20, and Khari Kendrick, 23, were eventually arrested Wednesday in connection to the crime, KETV7 reported. One of the men allegedly confessed and the trio was found with items that police say indicated they were involved in the couple’s murder, police say.
All three face capital murder charges.
Richard Lam said he and his family “are all extremely grateful for the hard work that the men and women in blue did around the clock,” as reported by KETV7.
But Michelle Lam, daughter of Bao and Jenny Lam, grieved the future memories with her parents that could have been.
“They took (our parents) from us way too soon,” Lam told the Chronicle, “and they'll never get to see their grandchildren.”