Remains of 6 family members recovered from East Lansdowne home after fire; unclear what prompted shooting

As law enforcement pulled the final remains of a young family from the ashes of their home on Friday morning, the weight of what was lost began to set in across a tight-knit Delaware County community.

“We are hurting. We are in pain,” said East Lansdowne Mayor Majovie Bland.

Gianna Milano stopped by Lewis Avenue in East Lansdowne on Friday afternoon out of a sense of respect for the Le family.

Milano said she was nearby on Baltimore Pike on Wednesday when she saw unmarked police vehicles “going 100 miles per hour.”

With a cast wrapped around his arm, John Meehan, the East Lansdowne police officer first to respond to the incident at the Le home, was released from the Penn Presbyterian hospital Friday afternoon.

Meehan, 54, was shot in the left arm, a wound that required surgery.

Law enforcement officials say it’s still not clear what triggered 43-year-old Canh Le, who is suspected of shooting and killing five members of his family Wednesday afternoon before turning the gun on two responding police officers and lighting the family’s longtime home on fire.

Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said that, through conversations with Canh’s parents, Huong and Chin Le, investigators believe Canh first shot his 13-year-old niece after an argument. The parents fled the home in fear, he said, and called the police for help. Other members of the family — including their other son, his wife, and their three children — did not make it out alive.

As law enforcement pulled the final remains of the Le family from the ash and rubble left of their East Lansdowne home, the reality of the tragedy had begun to set in across a tight-knit community.

“We are hurting. We are in pain,” said East Lansdowne Mayor Majovie Bland.

Crime scene investigators and the Delaware County Medical Examiner left Lewis Avenue around 11:30 a.m. Thursday, as law enforcement had discovered what they presume to be the remains of all six members of the Le family that they believe were inside when the house was set on fire.

Neighbors and well wishers stopped by periodically, with a small memorial placed in memory of Nakayla, Natayla and Xavier Le, the children of Xuong and Britni McLaughlin Le.

William Penn School District superintendent Eric Becoats said he remains in shock over two “senseless tragedies” this week, which included the presumed deaths of six people after a shooting and fire in East Lansdowne and the shooting death of a student in Darby.

“The death of a child for any reason pains me greatly,” Becoats said in a message to the school district community. “To lose one of our students to gun violence and then one of our families in this tragic event leaves me heartbroken.”

Lewis Avenue in East Lansdowne with quiet Friday morning in stark contrast to the last 48 hours. Law enforcement officials were still working to comb through the ruined home where the Le family had lived for decades.

Just before 10 a.m., a flatbed truck was pulled up to the scene, ready to receive more evidence that had been taken from inside the burned out hollow of the home. Minutes later, police pulled out a stretcher covered in a blue tarp.

Law enforcement sources told the Inquirer three generations of the Le family lived in a East Lansdowne home that caught fire after a gunman shot and wounded two police officers.

Family members identified Canh Le, 43, as the person who fired on police investigating a report an 11-year-old girl had been shot.

The first officer on the scene, East Lansdowne Officer John Meehan, 54 was shot in his left arm, officials said. The 22-year veteran was awaiting surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center for a gunshot wound to his left arm.

The second officer, Lansdowne Officer David Schiazza, 44, was shot in his leg moments later. Schiazza, also a 22-year veteran of his department, was released Thursday afternoon.

The home on Lewis Avenue was occupied by three generations of the Le family, law enforcement sources said. One resident Canh Le, was identified by family members as the person who opened fire at police officers who went there to investigate a report that he had shot his niece, the sources said.

Officials don't believe he or five other relatives made it out of the home.

After hours of sifting through the charred remains of an East Lansdowne home on Thursday, investigators retrieved three sets of human remains and a rifle — the beginnings of their painstaking search for evidence as they worked to piece together what led a resident of the home to shoot two police officers before setting the house ablaze the day before.

It was difficult, “gruesome” work, according to Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer. And frustratingly, he said, the full scope of what happened inside the ruined home on Wednesday afternoon may never be fully understood.