UConn Grad Kills 9-Year-Old Son, Self Amid Vaccine Dispute: PD

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A University of Connecticut graduate is believed to have killed his 9-year-old son and then killed himself over a dispute whether to vaccinate the child. The father has been identified as Stephen O’Loughlin, 49, and the son as Pierce O’Loughlin, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

San Francisco police found both bodies Jan. 13 during a welfare check as the child did not attend school that day.

Stephen O’Loughlin graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1994 and was employed by LoCorr Funds, according to The Connecticut Post.

O’Loughlin and Leslie Hu, the boy's mother, had been involved in a custody battle that was in part about Stephen O'Loughlin’s opposition to vaccinating their son.

He had agreed to begin vaccinations Jan. 12, the day before the murder-suicide. An attorney for Hu said that Stephen O'Loughlin suffered from "untreated mental illness," according to The San Francisco Chronicle, and that the roots of the tragedy were more complex than just vaccination.