Six in Gang Charged in ’85 Slayings in Viet Cafe

Six members of a Vietnamese gang were charged Friday with murder in an attack at a Garden Grove restaurant two years ago that left two people dead and four others injured.

Three of the suspects were arrested in Orange County. The others were already in jail in Los Angeles County on unrelated charges, police said.

Several gunmen entered My Nguyen Restaurant, a Vietnamese cafe and night spot at 14282 Brookhurst St., about 1:40 a.m. Nov. 17, 1985, and began shooting at patrons inside, police said.

Quy Ngoc Nguyen, 25, of Long Beach and Minh Luu, 23, of Sunnymead were killed. Among the four wounded were the restaurant manager and a busboy.

Investigators determined that the shootings occurred after a dispute that took place earlier in the restaurant between victim Quy Nguyen and one of the gang members.

‘They Came Back Later’

“Apparently what happened is the girlfriend of one of the suspects was in the restaurant earlier,” Garden Grove Police Lt. Bill Dalton said. “The victim was talking to her, and it created a jealousy problem. The suspect got upset and called for some friends. They came back later and started shooting up the restaurant.”

Dalton said it took his department two years to gather evidence and interview witnesses for the arrests. Officials said 100-120 people were in the restaurant at the time of the shooting.

The suspects were identified as Dat Tien Phan, 18, of Santa Ana; Khanh Quang Nguyen, 19, of Costa Mesa; Thanh Van Nguyen, 19, of Santa Ana; Nung Ly, 21, of Fountain Valley; Hour Kheng Chour, 20, of Santa Ana, and Ninh Xuan Nguyen, 23, of Santa Ana.

Each was charged with two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, police said.

Dalton said the suspects are not related, and he did not have details about their gang.

Hour Kheng Chour is being held in the Los Angeles County Jail on unrelated murder charges and Thanh Van Nguyen is beng held in Los Angeles County on unrelated burglary charges. Nung Ly is in the California Youth Authority for armed robbery, police said.

Dat Tien Phan was arrested at his parents’ home in Santa Ana, Khanh Quang Nguyen was arrested when he reported to work in Santa Ana and Ninh Xuan Nguyen was arrested at a residence in Pomona, police said. The latter was carrying a concealed handgun, police said. The three suspects were held Friday night in the Orange County Jail.

The restaurant, which opened just 10 months before the shootings occurred, had become a favorite late-night gathering spot for Vietnamese. It stayed open until 3 a.m. on weekends and was known for good food and reasonable prices.

It was housed in a small shopping center in the heart of Little Saigon, a quiet commercial center for Southeast Asian immigrants.

Witnesses told police that Quy Nguyen had finished his meal and was at the cashier’s stand paying his bill when he was shot in the neck, just before gunfire started in the dining room.

Quy Nguyen was a recent engineering graduate of Cal State Long Beach and had a job interview coming up, his friends said earlier.

The wounded people included two patrons, Tam Van Huynh, now 22, of Westminster, and Loc Van Tran, now 27, of Riverside. Rigoberto Nava, now 24, of Garden Grove, and Phuc Nhi Phung, now 43, of Santa Ana, were also injured. All of them have since recovered, police said. Nava was a busboy at the restaurant and Phuc Nhi Phung was the manager.

Police had asked for help from the Vietnamese community in solving the crime, after several theories surfaced as to why the shootings occurred. Police said they were initially hampered in the investigation because the gunmen and many of the potential witnesses fled immediately after the shooting.