An Oceanside man has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the killings of a Chinese herbalist and his family, including the couple's 5-year-old daughter.
Pierre Haobsh was charged Tuesday with murder with special circumstances, which gives prosecutors the option of seeking the death penalty, if not life in prison should he be convicted.
Santa Barbara County prosecutors haven't decided whether to seek capital punishment; they likely will decide that after Haobsh's preliminary hearing.
Haobsh is jailed and it's unclear whether he has a lawyer.
Prosecutors say the 27-year-old Oceanside man shot Dr. Weidong "Henry" Han, his wife and daughter in their multimillion-dollar home on the outskirts of Santa Barbara. Their bodies were found wrapped in plastic on Wednesday evening.
An autopsy performed this week showed all three died from gunshot wounds to the head.
Han ran a well-known herbal clinic in Santa Barbara for 25 years.
Authorities say the two men had been involved in a business deal and financial gain could have been a motive in the slayings.
The criminal complaint against Haobsh alleges the murder was premeditated, that he was "lying in wait" to commit the crime and that it was performed for financial gain.
Two days after sheriff's deputies found the family members' bodies in their garage, they tracked down Haobsh driving in unincorporated San Diego County at about 12:30 a.m. Friday. They followed him to a gas station in Bonsall, where he was arrested at gunpoint.
Haobsh lives with his father on Sunglow Drive in Oceanside, a community about 40 miles north of downtown San Diego and approximately 190 miles south of Goleta.
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He has no prior criminal history.
