Suicide Attempt Leaves Murder Suspect in Coma

A 26-year-old man suspected of killing six people across the state gouged his arms last week in an attempt to kill himself at Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles, authorities said.

Anh The Duong is in a coma on life support at County-USC Medical Center after slicing two arteries with a home-made “shank,” said Det. Christine Carnes of the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau.

Sheriff’s Department records indicate that Duong was transferred to the County-USC jail ward at 5:03 a.m. Sept 11.

He was due today before a judge at the Rio Hondo courthouse in El Monte for the date of a preliminary hearing to be set, but that has been postponed until Monday. In August, the reputed Orange County gang member pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering four people at an El Monte nightclub.

The horror of that crime two years ago--in which the assailant shot point-blank into a full booth, killing four people, three of whom were strangers to Duong--set off a national manhunt and eventually landed him on the television show “America’s Most Wanted.”

He was arrested July 16 while playing basketball at 24 Hour Fitness in Costa Mesa.

Although Duong was first sent to jail in Los Angeles County on charges here, he also faces murder and robbery charges elsewhere.

In San Jose in 1997, he allegedly shot a grocery store owner in the leg during a robbery and then killed the man’s 66-year-old father-in-law. A year later in nearby Fremont, police say, he was the mastermind of a group of six who shot and killed an employee of a high-tech firm during a botched heist.

Duong is also a suspect in a jewelry store robbery and shootout this year at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.

*

Times staff writers Richard Winton and Jack Leonard contributed to this story.