FBI Joins Probe of Viet Writer’s Shooting

Sheriff’s investigators backed by the FBI Monday focused on a political motive for the shooting of internationally known Vietnamese writer Doan Van Toai, a man whose views have angered people of both ideological extremes.

Toai, in serious but stable condition at a Fresno hospital, underwent additional surgery Monday for reconstruction of his jaw. He was shot three times--once in the face and twice in the torso--Saturday morning as he walked home from a shopping center. Two men, described by witnesses as Asians driving a brown Pontiac station wagon, are being sought.

Associates of Toai blamed the shooting on far-right extremists from the Vietnamese refugee community who have accused Toai of supporting communism in his homeland. The accusations, which associates maintain are unfair and malicious, stem from Toai’s recent writings and speeches in favor of renewed diplomatic relations with Vietnam as a way to encourage economic and political change.

“We favor creating dialogue with the Vietnamese government as a way to push for more reform, but whoever has contact, they call communists,” said Vinh Ngo, who works with Toai for the Institute for Democracy in Vietnam.

“We might go a different path from them, but it doesn’t mean we are the puppets of communism.”

Ngo said he believes the gunmen bent on assassinating Toai were watching him and followed him to the busy residential street where he was gunned down.

The FBI, which originally investigated threats against Toai five years ago, has joined the Fresno case to share intelligence on groups active in the Vietnamese community.

George Vinson, agent in charge of the Fresno office, said investigators were searching for evidence that might link the shooting to other attacks on Vietnamese activists that have occurred in Orange County in recent years.

“We are looking into whether a group in the Vietnamese community attempted to assassinate him for political reasons,” Vinson said.

In the past, right-wing groups have claimed responsibility for arson fires, shootings and other attacks on refugees who favor diplomatic ties with Vietnam.

The Fresno County Sheriff’s Department emphasized that it is continuing to investigate a range of possible motives, pointing to a surge in Asian gangs, drive-by shootings and armed robberies involving Asians in Fresno.

Anger at Toai, even after the shooting, remained high-pitched among the staunchly anti-communist segments of Fresno’s Vietnamese community, which numbers about 4,000.

Several Vietnamese merchants who asked not to be identified said they believe Toai secretly supported the communist regime. They point to his anti-war protest activities as a student in the 1960s and ‘70s, saying he damaged the U.S. military effort.

Toai was later imprisoned by the Vietnamese regime and his novels since have been widely regarded as anti-communist.

Anh Tam, editor of a locally produced Vietnamese newspaper, said Toai’s enemies became especially incensed after one of Toai’s editorials was translated incorrectly into Vietnamese.

In the editorial, Toai advocated resettling prisoners in Vietnamese re-education camps to the United States but said those who chose to stay in Vietnam should be paid a compensation. The incorrect translation, which was widely distributed in the Vietnamese refugee community, suggested that the United States should not allow the prisoners to be resettled in this country.

Toai’s associates suggest the incorrect translation was a deliberate effort to stir hatred against the author.