Gunman Dies When Struck by His Own Bullet

A technician scuffling with a co-worker outside their plant died Wednesday when he grabbed the man in a chokehold and fired a handgun at his head, sending the bullet into the gunman’s own chest, authorities said.

The shooting at Power Wave Technologies, which wounded the intended victim, was precipitated by a weeklong feud between the two workers over the use of tools on the company’s assembly line, a police spokesman said.

About 12:45 a.m. Wednesday, “they got a little ticked off at each other and decided to take it outside,” said Police Lt. Sam Allevato.

Thuan Dinh Nguyen, 22, grabbed Kevin Ho, 29, in a chokehold and fired a .380-caliber handgun, officials said. The bullet went through Ho’s cheek but killed Nguyen.

Ho, who lives in Garden Grove, was in fair condition later Wednesday at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

Tori Richards, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office, described Nguyen as a former gang member who was at one time targeted by a special gang prevention unit.

Nguyen, of Garden Grove, had pleaded guilty to several crimes in the last five years, including assault on a peace officer, assault with a deadly weapon, and preventing a witness or victim from giving testimony, Richards said.

Both Ho and Nguyen were temporary workers at the company, which makes amplifiers for wireless communications systems, said President and CEO Bruce Edwards. Both were technicians, proficient in the testing and tuning of power amplifiers, he said.

The business has a permanent and temporary work force of about 1,500 employees, Edwards said. During the graveyard shift, which begins between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m., about 300 workers are in the building.

ProStaff, a national staffing agency based in Minneapolis, received Nguyen’s application last September and eventually placed him in a job, Allevato said.

ProStaff General Manager Karen Kerr said the company does as much background checking as the job requires.

“We do references; we do as much as we can get in this day and age,” Kerr said. Criminal records are retrieved by computer from background checking agencies, she said.