SANTA ANA : Man Shot to Death in Parking Dispute

A Santa Ana man was shot to death when a longstanding parking dispute between neighbors erupted in violence, authorities said Monday.

Neighbors and witnesses said that the gunman shouted, “I didn’t want to kill you, but you made me kill you,” in Vietnamese after shooting Hai Pham, 38, once in the chest shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday.

Pham died at at the scene. Detectives are seeking two men and a woman who fled in a small gray car, said Santa Ana Police spokeswoman Maureen Haacker.

Witnesses told investigators that they heard six shots fired from in front of Pham’s rented two-story condominium in the 400 block of N. Mountain View Street shortly before 10:50 p.m. Sunday, Haacker said. Two men were spotted in Pham’s driveway, and one fired the gun into the air, witnesses said.

The two men and a woman then approached Pham’s front door and knocked, Haacker said. When no one answered, the man with the gun went through Pham’s unlocked garage.

“He walked into the condo and the victim was standing at the top of the stairs,” Haacker said. The two men then began arguing about a parking dispute that had been going on for about a month.

“Then (the intruder) shot (Pham) once in the chest,” Haacker said.

Neighbors described Pham as a kindly car salesman who moved to the condo about three months ago with a woman and her two teen-agers. He was a veteran of the South Vietnamese Army from Saigon and was said to be the younger brother of renowned Vietnamese pop singer Khanh Ly.

“I feel real bad about it,” said one man who requested anonymity. “(Pham) used to come over to our place for coffee. . . . When he had extra time, he liked to go fishing. He brought over some fish for us once.”

The man said Pham had complained about a neighbor who frequently blocked garages and alleys while repairing cars in his private garage. “It made it very hard for Hai to come in and out of his garage,” he said.

Residents said it was the part-time mechanic who banged on Pham’s door Sunday night, but that the gunman was either a younger male relative or friend.

Haacker could not confirm the residents’ accounts. She added that investigators were able to obtain only a minimal description of the shooter.