Philadelphia man charged with killing woman who reported him for sexual assault, officials say
Yujun Ren, 32, turned himself in to police Sunday in connection with the death of Yuan Yuan Lu in Levittown.
A Philadelphia man was charged with murder after fatally shooting his girlfriend in Levittown this weekend, shortly after she told police he had sexually assaulted her, authorities said.
Yujun Ren, 32, turned himself in to police in Middletown Township Sunday and told them he had been trying to scare the woman, Yuan Yuan Lu, when the firearm he carried accidentally discharged, killing her.
Investigators believe otherwise, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Ren’s arrest.
In addition to murder, prosecutors charged Ren with stalking and a gun crime. He is being held without bail.
Bristol Township police discovered Lu’s body shortly after noon Sunday in the driver’s seat of a white Hyundai in a residential neighborhood, according to the affidavit.
Lu had been shot in the head. Police found that the driver’s side window had been struck by gunfire, and they recovered an expended shell casing from a small caliber handgun.
In Ren’s interview with investigators, he told them that Lu had said “hurtful things and took their cats and dogs,” the affidavit said, leading him to pull the handgun in an attempt to scare her.
A day earlier, Lu had told Philadelphia police that Ren had sexually assaulted her at his home on South Orianna Street in Pennsport.
The assault, which Lu said happened around 1 p.m. Saturday, led her to end the relationship and pack her things to leave while Ren was at work, according to the affidavit. Lu told police she was afraid of Ren and said “he had a firearm he carried everywhere,” the document said.
Ren legally owned a Mossberg MC20 9mm pistol, investigators found.
The day Ren turned himself in, a woman who told police that she was Ren’s aunt turned that firearm over to Middletown Township authorities, according to the affidavit.
Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan said in a statement that the killing was a “sobering reminder of the lethal nature of domestic violence.”
“Our investigation revealed a chilling course of conduct,” said Khan, adding that investigators recovered evidence showing Ren stalked Lu in the early morning hours before shooting her.
Ren is set to appear in district court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing.