Vietnamese Interpreters to Aid Survivors in Stockton Attack

Three Vietnamese-speaking Orange County residents flew to Stockton Wednesday to help interpret for Southeast Asian students and families traumatized when a gunman opened fire on a playground Tuesday, killing five students and injuring 29 others.

The three, Thang Nguyen, 24, of Garden Grove; Mai Nguyen, 25, and Sanh Tang, 26, both of Santa Ana, are employees of Pacific Bell at its Vietnamese Service Center in Tustin, said Linda Bonniksen, a company spokeswoman who accompanied them to Stockton.

The trip was arranged after Stockton school district officials issued a plea for Vietnamese-speaking interpreters in televised reports of the tragedy.

Called District Officials

The gunman, Patrick Edward Purdy, 26, fired an assault rifle at dozens of children and school personnel before taking his own life. The student body of the elementary school where the incident happened is predominantly Southeast Asian.

“We called the Stockton school district and asked if they needed help translating for children’s psychologists, and they said, ‘Can you get here in 10 minutes?’ ” Bonniksen said.

Sanh Tang, the father of two boys, said: “This is special for me. My wife and I watched the (television) news of the shooting and we felt very bad about what happened.”