Man Killed, Teen Hurt in Suspected Gang Shooting

A Garden Grove man was shot and killed and a teen-ager was wounded when a group of men believed to be gang members fired at them in a Vietnamese cafe, Santa Ana police said Thursday.

Trien Duc Tran, 18, died at the scene and a 16-year-old Garden Grove boy was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange after the 10:37 p.m. shooting Wednesday at Co May Cafe, Lt. Bob Helton said.

The wounded teen-ager, whose name was not released for fear of retaliation in what authorities called a gang-related shooting, was listed in fair condition with a gunshot wound in the right shoulder, hospital officials said.

“Both victims were seated inside the cafe at a video game table when a group of men came into the establishment, walked directly to them and began shooting,” Helton said. “There were no words spoken.”

Helton said it was not known how many shots were fired or what kind of guns were used.

Information on the assailants was sketchy because most of the patrons were gone by the time police arrived at the cafe at 2709 W. 17th St. But there were two to five participants in the group and they used at least two guns, Helton said.

The shooting happened at a time when Congress is holding hearings in Washington about the growth of Asian organized crime in California.

There are about 80 Indochinese gangs operating in Orange County, according to the Senate Government Affairs permanent investigations subcommittee. The gangs, often “hyper-violent,” commit home invasion robberies, extortions, auto thefts and auto burglaries, according to testimony.

On Thursday afternoon at Co May, there were no traces left of the violence from the previous night. As a Vietnamese ballad played over the speakers, a waitress-cashier sat at the cash register and seven young men played either video games or Chinese checkers while they sipped drinks.

Van-Anh Dao, the employee, said she did not work Wednesday night and did not know details of the attack. The owners of the cafe could not be reached, she said.

The patrons present said they did not witness the killing.

“Customers here, some are regulars and some aren’t,” Dao said. “Last night, it must have been a vendetta carried in from outside. It rarely happens. I’ve been working here six, seven months now and that was the first time.”

Patrons are mostly Asian, but Latinos and Anglos also come in, she said.

Like most other Vietnamese cafes in the county, Co May is mostly a gathering place for young men. It serves coffee, sweet drinks, sodas and sandwiches.