Single dad kills mom, himself in home, police say
Wednesday, January 5, 2011 02:54 AM
BY COLLIN BINKLEY
In the town house where he was raising eight children, a Far West Side man shot and killed his ex-girlfriend yesterday, then killed himself - all while the children were home, Columbus police say.
Police found the bodies of Kimly Prak, 29, and Keorattana Lo, 25, at 4:30p.m. in an upstairs bedroom of Prak's home at 4970 Lion Dr., just north of Hall Road and west of I-270.
The oldest child living in the home, apparently an 11-year-old girl, called police after the shooting, then got all the other children - the youngest an infant - safely to a neighbor's house.
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Sgt. Steven Little of the homicide unit said the couple had split up and Lo was visiting her children yesterday when the couple began arguing. After the shooting, the children were placed with Franklin County Children Services. All eight were unharmed.
It's unclear how many of the children in the home are directly related to the couple. According to public records, there are four children with the last name Prak living in the house and enrolled at Prairie Norton Elementary. Students at that school, in the South-Western school district, return to class today after the holiday break.
It appears as if Lo was the mother of five or six children and that Prak was father of two of them.
A man who said he was Prak's nephew said his uncle was a single father and performed odd jobs to keep food on the table. He asked not to be named.
Other family members at the home last night said they came after seeing a report of the shooting on TV.
Lo was listed as living on Baroma Drive, about 3 miles east of the shooting.
Neighbors who frequently saw Prak said he had been distant since Lo moved out about four months ago.
"He wasn't himself. He was out of it," said Alex Rodriguez, who lives across the street.
Troy Carpenter, a neighbor who talked with Prak most mornings, said he hadn't seen Prak in two days. The last few times they spoke, Prak talked about being under pressure raising eight children without Lo.
Members of Lo's family and officials from the children's school district could not be reached last night.
The shooting was the first homicide of the year in Columbus.
Dispatch reporter Jeb Phillips contributed to this story.
cbinkley@dispatch.com
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