Triple tragedy

When homicide detectives knocked on Sharmaine Wright’s door shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday, it was her first indication that something was dreadfully wrong.

The 38-year-old and her children – Kelly, 22; Edward, 11; and Malika, 8, – had been sleeping when horror unfolded right next door to them on the 1600 block of South Bancroft Street.

Shortly before 2 a.m., Vietnamese immigrant Thuy Dang, 37, fatally stabbed her daughter Mimi, 6, and son Kenny, 10, once each in the chest before turning the knife on herself, said Cpl. Jim Pauley of the Police Public Affairs Unit.

Dang had been sleeping downstairs with her two younger children while her 13-year-old son Jerry and his grandmother Bach slept in their rooms upstairs, police said.

Talking to television news reporters Sunday, Jerry said he was awakened by his mother’s screams and went downstairs moments before she plunged the knife into her own chest.

The teen called police. All three victims were dead at the scene, and police recovered a butcher knife, Pauley said.

Wright and daughter Kelly offered to look after Jerry and Bach while investigators probed the bloody crime scene.

"It destroyed me that three bodies – and bodies I knew – were dead next door to me," Wright said. "We cried all night. It’s been very emotional."

Kelly Wright said she was angered by television reports that she feels have given the perception that Dang was an irresponsible mother.

"She wasn’t a bad parent – she was a good parent," Kelly said.

"She was a beautiful person, always smiling," her mother added. "She was always with her kids. It really shocked me."

JERRY DANG, alone in the world but for his grandmother, did not want to talk about the tragedy on Monday. Bach, who emigrated here from Vietnam, does not speak English.

Despite their different backgrounds, Sharmaine Wright and her three children considered their next-door neighbors family.

The Dangs moved to the block around the same time as the Wrights almost a decade ago.

Over the years, Thuy’s and Sharmaine’s younger children became best friends. Malika attended George W. Childs Elementary at 17th and Tasker with Mimi.

And every morning, Edward and Kenny walked together to Barratt Middle School at 16th and Wharton streets.

After school, the boys would play together on their block.

"Now [Edward] comes out and there’s no Kenny," Wright said Monday.

The murder-suicide occurred during a particularly deadly weekend in Philadelphia. In North Philly on Saturday, a 9-year-old boy was shot to death while sitting inside a van outside his father’s store. Early Sunday, five young men were shot – two fatally – when a dispute erupted inside a Northeast pool hall.

Neither Wright nor her children heard anything the night Thuy Dang and her children died.

The day after the deaths, Sharmaine was still trying to accept the news while attempting to explain murder-suicide to her 11-year-old.

"He said, ‘Mama why?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, baby, I don’t know."

Wright said she knew that Thuy Dang suffered from mental illness and had survived one suicide attempt, but she didn’t know any other details about her neighbor’s health.

According to published reports, Dang’s family had sought treatment for her at Pennsylvania Hospital a day before the murder-suicide. Citing federal patient privacy laws, hospital director of communications Carson Clark declined to comment.

"We do not confirm or deny that someone has been a patient in our hospital without the written permission of them or someone from their immediate family," Clark said.

STIGMA AND SHAMEare associatedwith mental-health problems in the Asian community and arecritical deterrents in people seeking help, said Brad Baldia, director of outreach for United Communities of Southeast Philadelphia and a chair on the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals.

"For a lot of the Southeast Asian populations, mental health in general is an unaddressed problem. Those things are taboo topics, so they internalize and often don’t seek help," he said.

Language is often another barrier, Baldia added.

But that apparently wasn’t the case for Thuy Dang, who spoke English "very well," according to neighborhood friend Trang Nguyen, who is also Vietnamese.

Asian-American women ages 15-24 have the second-highest suicide rate among women across all racial and ethnic groups. Asian-American women also have the highest rate of suicide among those 65 and older, according to Asian Community Mental Health Services, based in California.

Sharmaine Wright said she would seek counseling for her son Edward. Since he learned his best friend was dead, he has had trouble coping and has been losing sleep, she said.

News of the murder-suicide stunned not only Dang’s immediate neighbors but others in the Asian enclave within Point Breeze.

Dang had been a regular customer at Du’s Market, 1542 Morris St. Owners Quoi Du, who is Vietnamese, and wife Len Pxung, who is Chinese, said they were shocked to hear of her death. The mother shopped at the store daily for meat, fruit and chips and sodas for her children, said Pxung.

Sometimes Dang would not have enough money to pay for the goods and the shop owners would let her have them for free, Pxung said, adding that the family was "poor."

"I know she was a good mother. I know she loved her kids," the merchant said.

Nguyen, Dang’s friend, also remembered her as one who always looked out for her children.

"We’re very, very sorry. We get hurt too," said Nguyen, who has visited Dang’s mother Bach several times since the tragedy.

"She cries a lot. She says, ‘My daughter and my grandchildren die. I don’t feel so good. Maybe I die soon,’" said Nguyen.

Concerned for Bach’s financial well-being, Nguyen is collecting money for her and grandson Jerry.

�

To make a contribution, call 215-336-0836.