Melbourne-based producer on SBS Mandarin Radio, Wu Yin was shocked on seeing an image of her old university friend Hao Kai named on the news as the victim of the siege at Brighton this week.
She says "I can't believe it was him...he is my first good friend in Australia."
"I phoned him but no one answered," Wu broke down on the phone.
She recalled that she first met Hao Kai at Monash University's Gippsland campus where they did the same subject in 2005.
Hao's Facebook status showed that he was graduated from Central Gippsland TAFE in 2004 before went to study in Monash University.
"He came to Australia earlier than me. He is such a warm-hearted person."
Hao Kai Source: supplied by Wu Yin
"Kai Hao, a dad, has been killed by a terrorist in Melbourne, Australia," Mr Turnbull told 3AW on Wednesday. "A heartbreaking crime."
Hao, a 36 year old Australian of Chinese birth, was killed while on duty at the Buckingham Serviced Apartments before gunman Yacqub Khayre staged a gunfight with police and was shot dead.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton also revealed that he's recently married and has a child.
On Wednesday afternoon, Hao's mother, accompanied by a family spokesman appeared at a press conference, where she bravely faced the cameras to share some of her thoughts.
"We've been looking forward to a family reunion, But after the incident, the past two days has been the saddest and darkest of our lives," the family's statement read.
"It feels like the end of the world. We don't know much in Australia, and we don't speak in English. We are truly helpless here."
Hao's mother arrived from China's Henan province a year ago and had applied for a family visa to join her son, who only got married in Australia in April. They even planned to return to China to hold a wedding reception there in August, but now she can only "take his ashes for a funeral back home."
"My son is an Australian citizen," said Hao's mother. "He has been working hard and made contributions to the society. He's left home to work happily...Now I just can't look at anything at home."
"I hate that terrorist who has tore my family apart"
The emotional mum said, "I have to say I hate that terrorist who has tore my family apart."
"Everything is gone...My son's ten years in Australia has gone. And the family has been totally destroyed."
"I have to say I hate that terrorist who has tore my family apart," she said.
"We had always been talking to go back to Gippsland campus to visit our teacher back there. I never thought we could never go back together. "
SBS Mandarin Radio producer Wu Yin remembers that Hao used to drive her to a nearby town, where he worked at a fish and chip shop, to help her get a new laptop after she splashed water on her old one. She says "he was actually the first person who helped me in Australia".
Yin also recalled how Hao always worked hard in his spare time to support his stay in Australia, "he's done a variety of part time jobs. I remembered to see the burning scars on his hands."
After Yin's left the Gippsland campus, Hao stayed there until graduated before moving to Melbourne to look for jobs. They had been "catching up at least once a year".
"I talked to him for the last time last Christmas. I asked him if he's found the special one, he admitted [he had]," Yin recalled her last conversation with Hao on Chinese social media messager WeChat.
"We had always been talking to go back to Gippsland campus to visit our teacher back there. I never thought we could never go back together. "
Below: Turnbull says Melbourne siege 'a terrorist attack'
