Santa Ana : Investigation of Fatal Shooting at a ‘Standstill’

At a “standstill” in the murder investigation of a Vietnamese woman who was shot during an apparent youth gang robbery attempt, Santa Ana police have contacted police in Garden Grove and Monterey Park for details on similar cases in those cities, authorities said.

Detectives also plan to contact Vietnamese-language newspapers in the county in hopes that further publicity about the murder of the mother of 14 will prompt members of the community to come forward, Santa Ana police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said Thursday.

“We have no new leads in the homicide, so we’re at kind of a standstill right now,” Thomas said.

“This is a very difficult case,” Thomas said. “We’re hoping someone from the community will come forward with information.”

Although interviews with neighbors and family members were continuing, Thomas said there have been few clues to the identity of four masked gunmen who stormed a Santa Ana house and shot Huyen Thi Hoang, 46, while she was in prayer at her bedside Monday night.

Thomas said police have been unable to develop good descriptions of the four, who are believed to be Vietnamese and members of a network of gangs with connections across the country and possibly Mexico.

Police have been unable to locate a dark-green Datsun sedan seen in the neighborhood on four recent occasions prior to the attack. “Now we’re really questioning whether the green vehicle was involved,” Thomas said.