Father admits shooting girl, killing wife
City man gets automatic life sentence, no parole for at least 12 years
Shot twice by her father, a city teen played dead as her dad murdered her mother, a Calgary court heard Wednesday.
Hien Tuan Lam, 44, pleaded guilty to reduced charges of second-degree murder of his wife, Hue Ngoc Nguyen, and discharging a firearm with intent to endanger the life of his daughter, Jammie Lam, then 15.
Crown prosecutor Shane Parker told Justice David Gates the offender shot both his wife and daughter during an argument last May 24 at the family’s Rundlehorn Drive N.E. home.
“The accused became angry when Ms. Nguyen told him she was going to start working again,” Parker said, reading from a statement of agreed facts signed by Lam and his lawyer, Gavin Wolch.
The prosecutor said an argument broke out, during which the father felt he was being insulted and disrespected, before the mother and daughter retreated into a bedroom and closed the door.
“A minute later, the accused came to the door and said, ‘if you don’t open the door I’m going to blow open the door,’ ” Parker said.
He told Gates that Lam then retrieved a pistol and opened the bedroom door with the gun at his side. Jammie then called 911 and told the operator her father had a gun.
“As the accused entered the bedroom, Ms. Nguyen and Jammie grabbed his neck and arms,” Parker told court.
The couple’s two younger children were also in the bedroom.
As the struggle continued, Parker said, “Ms. Nguyen and Jammie were shot by the accused.”
The wife fell to the floor while “Jammie was playing dead,” the prosecutor said.
“The accused was heard to say that Ms. Nguyen deserved to die. The accused shot her again.”
After the shooting, Lam told his younger children, 11 and three, to get their jackets.
He then drove to his sister’s home, along the way giving the children mementoes as he believed he would be going to jail for a lengthy period of time.
He left the children in his car while he went in to talk to his sister before returning to the vehicle and driving around the city’s northeast quadrant.
“The accused was suicidal with remorse and nearly turned the pistol on himself,” Parker said.
“Instead he pointed the gun out the window of the vehicle to the sky and fired a single shot into the air near Whitehorn Drive N.E.
“Uniformed police officers who were looking for his vehicle to arrest him witnessed the shot.”
Lam was subsequently taken into custody.
Jammie was shot in the cheek and jaw, but survived.
Her mother was shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest.
Gates accepted a joint submission from Parker and Wolch for an automatic life sentence without parole for a minimum 12 years.
Wolch said Lam was extremely remorseful. “He relives this every day,” Wolch said. “He does want to atone and emerge, one day, more like the man he used to be.”