Chinese coronavirus researcher shot dead in US, police call it 'murder-suicide'

A Chinese-born researcher in United States was killed in a shooting that has fuelled conspiracy ories around world. Bing Liu, assistant professor at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, was reportedly doing research work on coronavirus which sparked online speculation of his possible politically-motivated murder.

local police dismissed such speculations saying murder had thing to do with his employment and research being conducted at University of Pittsburgh. Ross Township Police Department said in a statement that investigation of circumstances indicates that it was a murder-suicide case over a “lengthy dispute” regarding an “intimate partner”.

“We have found zero evidence that this tragic event has anything to do with employment at University of Pittsburgh, any work being conducted at University of Pittsburgh and current health crisis affecting United States and world,” said police department.

According to police, Hao Gu, 46-year-old software engineer, killed Bing due to a dispute over an intimate partner and shot himself after returning to his car. police added that, in accordance with long-standing protocol, review has been forwarded to federal authorities since individuals were t US citizens.

However, police statement did t help speculations to die down as social media latched on remarks of Bing’s department at University of Pittsburgh. researcher’s colleagues said that Bing was close to “making very significant findings” related to coronavirus which led to social media wonder if it was a case of assassination.

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Online rumours

Users on Chinese social media platform Weibo propagated several conspiracy ories around murder and speculated wher he had found out that virus originated in United States. Earlier, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson had insinuated that virus originated from a lab in America and a US soldier brought it to China. Such unverified claims have gained ground amid worsening relationship between US and China over coronavirus outbreak which has claimed over 265,000 lives worldwide.

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(Representational Im: Pixabay)