Police took 20 minutes to respond to pizza store killings, 45 minutes to find suspect: report

Police investigate the scene of a triple murder, at a pizza restaurant in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, Sept. 3. (Yonhap)

Police officials dispatched to a triple murder scene that occurred at a pizza store in Seoul earlier this month took 20 minutes to find the location and 45 minutes to locate the suspect after the initial report, a National Police Agency report showed Wednesday.

On Sept. 3, officers were ordered to leave for the scene immediately after the emergency dispatch service learned of the stabbing spree at 10:51 a.m. at the restaurant in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, according to the NPA report submitted to Rep. Yang Bu-nam of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.

While the location was just three minutes from the police station, officers failed to pinpoint the spot because the person who submitted the report was unable to give the exact address. It was found that one of the three victims injured by the suspect had called police. All of them later died at the hospital.

It took 20 minutes for police to arrive at the scene at 11:11 p.m., and another 25 minutes to find the suspect at 11:36 p.m. The suspect, who is the owner of the pizza joint, himself opened the locked door to let police in, after the suspect's girlfriend failed to do so because she could not remember the combination for the lock.

The suspect, 41, used a knife from the kitchen to attack the victims and inflicted severe injuries on himself after the incident. He was treated for a week at a local hospital before being arrested Wednesday.

The suspect admitted to the crime and said a feud over revamping the store's interior design had led to the attack.

Police are further investigating the motives for the attack that killed three people. The victims were a 49-year-old employee from the pizza franchise headquarters, a 60-year-old interior designer and her 32-year-old daughter.

The suspect's family said that he was under extreme stress due to unreasonable demands by the franchise headquarters, saying the interior work by the company-designated designer led to leaks. Their visits were related to the feud, according to the suspect and his family.

The company told local media outlets that it does not force franchise store owners to choose a particularly designer, and the company official was there on the spot to mediate the conflict over repair fees. The company also denied unreasonable demands.