On January 30, 2014 the bodies of Maoye Sun, 50; his wife Mei Xie, 49; and their sons Timothy, 9, and Titus, 7, were found shot to death in their Cypress, Texas home. Investigators believe the family was killed two days earlier on January 24, 2014. Reports say the killings were work-related: a coworker, Feng Lu, 58, allegedly became enraged after being passed over for a promotion and believing Sun had made derogatory comments about him. Court documents state Lu asked Sun for a recommendation and, when he didn’t receive one, purchased a gun on January 23, 2014 and used it in the attack.

The case remained unsolved for nearly nine years before authorities arrested Feng Lu in California on September 11, 2022 and charged him with capital murder. The case drew heavy attention in Houston’s Chinese community, which had voiced frustration over the lack of information and the long delay before an arrest.