Life Sentence Finalized for Man in His 60s Who Killed Son with Homemade Gun After Birthday Party

He Targeted His Daughter-in-law and Grandchildren, But Only Succeeded in Attempt

The Supreme Court has finalized a life sentence for a father who murdered his son with a homemade firearm after the son threw him a birthday party.

Supreme Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

According to the legal community on October 7, the Supreme Court’s Third Petty Bench (Presiding Justice: Eom Sang-pil) recently upheld a previous court ruling that sentenced Mr. A to life imprisonment and 20 years of electronic location tracking for charges including murder, attempted murder, violations of the Act on the Safety Management of Guns, Swords, and Explosives, and attempted arson of an inhabited building.

Mr. A was indicted on charges of shooting and killing his son twice with a homemade firearm during his own birthday party held at his son’s home in Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, on July 20, 2025. He left the house under the pretext of visiting a convenience store, retrieved the firearm from his car, and upon returning, rang the doorbell. When his son and daughter-in-law answered, he fired at his son.

Mr. A then attempted to kill his daughter-in-law and grandchildren, who were in the living room, as well as a German acquaintance who had fled to the apartment stairwell, but these attempts failed due to his daughter-in-law’s report to the police. Before the crime, it was found that he had installed ignition devices in various spots throughout his home in Dobong-gu, Seoul and set the timers in advance.

Mr. A had been receiving monthly living expenses from his common-law wife and son. However, it was discovered that he had been double-dipping for about two years, and this financial support was cut off in November 2023. As a result, he decided to commit the crime. Delusional beliefs that his former wife had deceived and isolated him in collusion with their son led him to seek revenge by killing his ex-wife’s beloved son and his family.

The main issues were whether merely installing the ignition devices constituted an attempt at arson, whether Mr. A intended to kill the other victims besides his son, and whether the sentence was excessively harsh.

In the first trial in February 2026, Mr. A was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device for 20 years. The court found that, considering the state of the living room and the rooms where he planned to start the fire, the quantity and flammability or explosiveness of the materials, he had taken actual steps toward arson. The court also rejected Mr. A’s claim that he had no intention of killing the other victims. However, the prosecution’s request for probation was dismissed.

The appellate court also rejected both Mr. A’s and the prosecution’s appeals in May of the same year.

The Supreme Court concurred. The justices recognized that Mr. A had created a situation where, once the designated time arrived, the ignition would occur automatically and the fire could spread without any further act, thus constituting an attempt at arson. The guilty verdicts for the attempted murder charges, as found in the first and second trials, were also upheld.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.