Garden Grove : Businessman Killed in Restaurant Scuffle

Police were combing a Garden Grove neighborhood Wednesday for evidence in their investigation into the death of a businessman fatally shot in a Bolsa Avenue restaurant.

Tu Van Nguyen was shot in the upper torso Tuesday night after he and an unidentified customer at a nearby table in the Phu Khanh Seafood restaurant began to argue and then fight, Garden Grove Police Sgt. Kenneth Whitley said. Police do not know whether the two men were acquainted.

Nguyen’s brother Michael said Nguyen went to the restaurant, in the 10500 block of Bolsa Avenue, after leaving a martial-arts class with his friend, Thomas Chu of Santa Ana. Chu said the fatal shooting occurred after the assailant, who was at the restaurant with four other men, began cursing Nguyen in Vietnamese, accusing him of giving the man dirty looks, according to Michael Nguyen.

Tu Van Nguyen, 34 and a Santa Ana resident, was rushed to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, where he died during surgery.

Nguyen, an insurance broker, ran his own business on Westminster Avenue in Garden Grove for the past 5 years, according to his sister, Havin Nguyen. He is survived by his parents, who live in Santa Ana, and five siblings.