FULLERTON : Bystander Slaying Nets Long Sentence for Gang Member

A 20-year-old gang member was sentenced Friday to 28 years to life in prison for his role in a shootout that killed a 15-year-old innocent bystander going on a church retreat with his parents.

Loi Van Nguyen of Westminster was behind the wheel of the car when fellow gang members and a rival group began exchanging gunfire outside an Orange church on Aug. 6, 1993.

Lozaro Omar Acosta Jr., a Century High School sophomore and church choir member, was killed by a stray bullet while sitting in his parents’ car, which was stopped nearby.

“They were on their way to a church retreat. He was waiting in the car while his mom and dad ran into the convenience store for cough drops, cookies and other items to take with them,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Robin Park said. “He was hit by a stray bullet.”

Several other gang members await trial in the case, but the gang member who fired the fatal shot has already been convicted and sentenced to prison, Park said.

Nguyen’s defense attorney did not return a call seeking comment on the sentence, but he had argued at trial that the first-degree murder conviction was too harsh because his client never held a gun during the incident.

Under the law, however, Nguyen is just as culpable as the person who pulled the trigger because he participated in gang activity that led to a killing.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Kazuharu Makino sentenced Nguyen to 25 years to life in prison on the first-degree murder charge, plus an additional three years in prison on gang involvement and weapons charges.