Friends and educators who knew 17-year-old Meggie Le said her older brother, Richard, was always her protector.
Richard Le, 18, would walk her to class and sometimes check in on her. Before she went out with friends, they would have to receive his approval. He made sure his sister — a straight-A student — "hit the books" and didn't want her to make bad decisions.
"Richard was always looking out for Meggie," said Graham Haak, a classmate of Meggie's at Cactus Shadows High School in north Scottsdale.
Haak said he and his girlfriend always ate lunch with Meggie after school before they went to work.
"He would've done anything to protect her, I guess," Haak said.
But Richard Le couldn't protect his sister — and his mother, Catherine Howe — from being killed by his stepfather in what police described as a gruesome domestic violence attack.
Police say Lee Howe, 54, went on a shooting spree in their north Scottsdale home last week, killing his wife and stepdaughter.
Police said Howe shot and killed his wife and then went to Richard's bedroom, but the teen was able to escape to his sister's room after being shot in the torso at least twice. Howe broke down the door and shot Meggie.
She died the next day from the wounds.
After her death, in a MySpace message to his sister, Richard wrote he always took special care of her — care that included playing basketball and Nintendo together and even making her eggs when she wanted them.
He said they were best friends growing up and he tried to give her things he never had.
He asked Meggie for forgiveness for not being able to pull her into the closet with him during the shooting and wrote that he was proud of her.
"I am so sorry that I was not able to pull you into the closet in time … I tried Meggie, I tried. I swear. … But you know what, I am so proud of you for holding onto my hand until the very end. I know you know this Meggie, but I love you. I love you so much."
Richard eventually escaped and was able to summon help from a neighbor.
He returned to the home out of concern for family members and confronted his stepfather in the kitchen, where police said they believe the wiry Le wound up stabbing to death the 6-foot-1, 221-pound Howe in the kitchen.
Le was released from the hospital the day after his sister died. While there, he asked for her, according to his MySpace message.
During a television news interview with KTVK-TV (Channel 3) in Phoenix, a stoic Le said Wednesday that he is dealing with the last images of his mother and sister.
"The last memory I have of my mother is holding her head," Le said. "The last memory I have of my sister is saying goodbye to her at the hospital. Now I suffer with the image of watching my little angel pass away before my eyes. I lost everything in a night — you have to realize that. Everything I ever had. Everything I loved. Everything that loved me. I lost it all in the flick of an eye. …
"Honestly, I'm just dead inside," Le said. "I just have to stay strong and stop crying so that I can go through and take care of all the legal things that are in place right now and pull through and band together so (I can) keep my family from going insane."
Scottsdale police haven't released any new details about the investigation, but they have said Le was justified in killing his stepfather.
