USC still shocked after professor Raja Fayad killed by Sunghee Kwon
The University of South Carolina is still reeling from the news of a murder suicide which left a professor and his wife dead last week. Sunghee Kwon shot Raja Fayad several times in the upper body Thursday afternoon in a fourth-floor office at the university’s Public Health building, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said in a news release.
Now classes are back to normal and life goes on. The state’s flagship university was forced to use the emergency system and Twitter notification system when the shooting occurred in a busy section of downtown Columbia.
photo/Fbi.gov public domain
State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry said in a brief news conference announced two bodies were found and that “Every indication we have seen so far it appears to be a very isolated incident — a murder-suicide,” he saidat the time.
The university said little about the shooting other than in its emergency alert. Classes went on as scheduled except in the building where the shooting took place.
Students may still be struggling to shake off the melcancholy after effects of the event, especially since investigators offer no reason for the shooting
Kwan committed suicide with a gunshot to her stomach, the coroner said. A 9 mm pistol with an empty magazine was found near the bodies, State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry said.
No one witnessed the shooting, which happened in a small laboratory and adjacent office, Berry said Friday.
Kwon, 46, and Fayad, 45, were divorced a few years ago, but continued to live together until they split up for good a few months ago, Watts said. Kwon was still living in the couple’s home on Lake Murray in Lexington County, while Fayad had moved to a long-term hotel with a family member, according to the coroner.
Authorities have searched several different locations but found no notes or other writing to help them find a reason for the shooting, Berry said.
