Police: Frederick Man John Ming Shot Mom and Sister, Then Himself

HAGERSTOWN, Md. - A 26-year-old man armed with a rifle or shotgun wounded his mother and sister early Thursday moing before shooting himself in the head during a car chase, Frederick County authorities said.

The man's father was hurt jumping from a second-floor window of the family's home in a subdivision near Adamstown, about 40 miles west of Baltimore, a Frederick County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said.

Deputies found John Ming Lee's body in a car that had left the single-family home as police arrived in response to a troubling 911 hang-up call shortly before 5 a.m., Cpl. Jennifer Bailey said.

"Emergency Communications dispatchers reported hearing screaming and gunshots in the background before the line was disconnected," Bailey said.

The red Kia sedan crashed several miles from the home after a 10-minute chase at speeds of 25 to 35 mph, she said.

Deputies found the gun in the car, Bailey said. It appeared that Lee had shot himself, but it was unclear if he died from the gunshot or the crash, Bailey said.

Lee's mother, Siach Song, 50, and sister Amy Zheng, 18, were both shot, Bailey said. They were taken along with father Jingmin Zheng, 58, to the University of Maryland Medical Center Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, she said.

A nursing supervisor at Baltimore's Shock Trauma says Amy Zheng and her mother, Song, are both out of surgery and listed in critical condition following surgery. The alleged shooter's father, Jingmin Zheng, is in stable condition. A third sibling, a son, was away at college in upstate New York at the time of the shooting.

Deputies found one of the women on the front porch and the other in a bedroom, Bailey said.

Jingmin Zheng is a ceramics expert who worked until several years ago at Trans-Tech Inc., a maker of radio-frequency and microwave products in Adamstown, said David B. Cruickshank, a former co-worker.

Cruickshank, of Rockville, said he knew Zheng's son had attended college but knew little else about the family.

Amy Zheng was an honor student and National Merit Scholarship finalist last year at Tuscarora High School.