WESTMINSTER : Gang Suspects Held in Virginia Robbery

Two Westminster men suspected of ambushing a Vietnamese family at their home and holding them at gunpoint overnight were arrested in Virginia this weekend after a shoot-out with police at the family’s jewelry store, authorities said Tuesday.

Trung Viet Cao, 19, and Charlie Hung Vu, 23, were booked on suspicion of robbery and abduction Saturday after the terrifying takeover of the family’s home in Fairfax County, Va., outside of Washington. They are being held in lieu of $525,000 bond each.

Westminster Detective Marcus Frank, a specialist in Asian crime, said Cao is wanted in Westminster on an outstanding warrant charging him with strong-arm robbery. The allegations involve a “chain grab,” a common crime in the Asian community in which jewelry is snatched off victims’ necks.

Frank said Cao and Vu are believed to associated with several Vietnamese gangs in the Orange County area, including the Natoma Boys.

Fairfax police said that on Friday evening several gunmen burst into the home of a jeweler and held his family at gunpoint until Saturday afternoon, when the jeweler agreed to drive the gunmen to his business in nearby Falls Church.

After the gunmen left, the jeweler’s family called police, who then confronted the suspects at the jewelry store. Vu tried to flee and was arrested, police said. Authorities said Trung came out of the store and exchanged gunfire with police.

Although wounded, Trung retreated to a restaurant and took five hostages before surrendering, according to police.

Frank said the involvement of young men from Westminster in a crime on the East Coast illustrates the typical “cross-country” capabilities of Vietnamese gangs, who live in one region of the nation and commit crimes in another.

Although they do not always have accurate crime statistics, police say the Fairfax home invasion is part of an apparent increase in such robberies in Southeast-Asian communities across the nation.