Police Say Jealousy Drove Cafe Killer

A rampage by a jealous and abusive husband who believed his wife was having an affair led to the shooting deaths of two innocent victims Thursday at a Garden Grove cafe, police said.

Police spokesman Dave Abrecht said Friday that identities of the victims and the husband, who committed suicide, were still being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The husband, identified only as a 45-year-old Vietnamese American, walked into the Little Saigon Cafe at the Euclid Retail Center on Euclid Street at about 10 p.m. looking for his wife, who worked at the restaurant. He was armed with a shotgun.

“The husband believed his wife was having an affair with a white guy,” said Abrecht. “There was one white male inside the cafe and he singled him out as the man who was having a relationship with his wife.”

The husband fired a shotgun blast at the man, identified only as a 47-year-old Costa Mesa resident, killing him. Abrecht said the man was an innocent bystander.

A 27-year-old woman who Abrecht said was behind the counter was also shot. She died later at UCI Medical Center. She was identified only as a Vietnamese American and Garden Grove resident.

The gunman’s wife, identified by police as a 27-year-old Vietnamese American, was not injured in the shooting. The husband turned the weapon on himself and committed suicide inside the cafe, police said.

Apparently, the wife had been the victim of “unreported domestic violence,” Abrecht said.

“We think there was domestic violence in the background of these folks, because we’ve received some information about spousal abuse. We’re still attempting to sort this out. It’s also not clear to us if they were divorced or estranged,” he said.

The cafe, located on a strip mall of Vietnamese shops, was open for business Friday morning.