Man Charged in Viet Shooting Pleads Innocent
A Costa Mesa man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of attempted murder in the shooting last week of a former South Vietnamese housing official.
Be Tu Van Tran, 30, a part-time Times truck driver and Orange Coast College student, was arraigned in West Orange County Municipal Court in Westminster on charges of attempted murder and using a firearm in the commission of a crime.
An April 3 preliminary hearing date was set, court officials said. Authorities said Tran remained in custody Tuesday at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Tran was arrested Friday after interrogation by Westminster police detectives. Investigators said Tran admitted shooting Tran Khanh Van, 44, of Westminster twice outside a restaurant in that city the night of March 18.
Westminster Detective Mark Frank said Tran had been “upset” with Van for making what Tran believed were pro-Hanoi statements in a Los Angeles Times Magazine article.
Tran, who said Saturday that his father and brother had gone “crazy” after being imprisoned by Communists when Saigon fell in 1975, denied ever being at Van’s real estate office or at his Santa Ana home. Police had said that a car spotted near the victim’s house led them to Tran.
Van, who was shot in the stomach and shoulder, was discharged Monday from Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.
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