Suspect in 1990 Mile Square Park Slaying Is Arrested
After eluding authorities for more than two years, a suspect has been arrested in connection with the killing of a man in Fountain Valley’s Mile Square Park in 1990, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department announced Wednesday.
Hoang Xuan Nguyen, 25, was placed in in Orange County Jail Tuesday after being arrested on suspicion of murder. He had been arrested in Los Angeles earlier in the day on an unrelated counterfeiting charge, said Lt. Dick Olson of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Nguyen, who was living in El Monte at the time of his arrest, is believed to have been the main triggerman in a Sept, 8, 1990, shooting that killed 31-year-old Hoa Le of Los Angeles and wounded then 26-year-old Ngoc Lee Phung of Anaheim.
Police said the shootings were not gang-related and that the victims, who were picnicking along the eastern edge of the crowded park, apparently knew their assailants.
Nguyen was living under an assumed name and was considered armed and dangerous, Olson said. He is the last of five suspects in the shootings to be arrested.
The other suspects, Minh Cong Do, Chau Van Phung, Hoa Day Thai and Phong Chuhang Phan have all been convicted of first-degree murder.
Nguyen is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned today.
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