An anti-vaxxer who falsely believed the coronavirus jab was being used by the Government to control minds died with his son, 9, in a suspected murder-suicide.
Stephen O'Loughlin and his son, Pierce, were found dead from gunshot wounds inside the 49-year-old's San Francisco apartment last Wednesday evening.
The investment firm vice president was in the middle of a legal battle with the child's mum Lesley Hu over his health care, including inoculations.
Police officers found the bodies during a welfare check requested by the mum, 41, after Pierce failed to show up for class at his Catholic school Convent & Stuart Hall.
O'Loughlin, described as mentally unwell and obsessed with government conspiracies by his ex-wife's lawyer Lorie Nachlis, was regional VP at LoCorr Funds, according to LinkedIn.
Despite his reservations, he had given consent to have Pierce vaccinated the day before their deaths, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
A hearing in relation to the couple's custody battle was reportedly due to take place in March.
Court records from September 2020 show O'Loughlin had joined a "new-age, self-help group" in 2012, reportedly donating thousands in the years since.
He had refused to allow Pierce to be vaccinated from a young age, claiming he had suffered serious side effects following jabs as a baby.
"This is not an 'anti-vax' parent seeking to prevent his child from being vaccinated," O’Loughlin’s attorneys wrote in a filing from early January.
"For the average child, the risk-to-benefit ratio for vaccines is in favor of vaccinations. For a certain subset of society, however, that is not the case. Pierce is one of those people."
Ms Hu, who filed for divorce in 2016, said doctors had, in actual fact, advised their son get vaccinated, describing her ex's obsessions as "cult-like".
She claimed O'Loughlin would record Pierce's breathing to monitor his health.
Ms Nachlis told KRON4 : "He punished Leslie with the ultimate act of violence, killing her child, and she will suffer as I believe was intended for the rest of her life."
