Coronavirus researcher killed in Pennsylvania murder-suicide, police say

A research assistant professor studying coronavirus at the University of Pittsburgh was killed in an apparent murder-suicide over the weekend, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Bing Liu, 37, was an expert in computational modelling and analysis of biological systems dynamics. Most recently, he had been working on understanding the cellular mechanisms that underlie the coronavirus, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine said in a statement.

“Bing was on the verge of making very significant findings,” the statement said. “Liu was an outstanding researcher, who has earned the respect and appreciation of many colleagues in the field, and made unique contributions to science.”

The school says they will make an effort to complete his research.

Liu was murdered mid-day Saturday at his townhome in Ross Township on the outskirts of the city. Police believe Hao Gu, 46, shot Liu before taking his own life.

Police declined to give a possible motive, but they did say the men knew each other.

An autopsy found that Liu was shot multiple times, including in the head, neck and torso, according to the Post-Gazette.

Liu leaves behind a wife, who wasn’t home at the time of the shooting.

The school of medicine says that during his career, Liu authored more than 30 publications and wrote a book on the computational modeling of biological pathways. Before coming to the United States, Liu received two degrees in Computer Science from the National University of Singapore before conducting his postdoctoral studies at Carnegie Mellon University.