This is from today's Oakland Tribune. This person is still at large.
Robber kills restaurant employee
Laos native slain on last day managing Bangkok Palace in Oakland
By Harry Harris, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE
OAKLAND — Monday was supposed to be Sonethavy Phomsouvanhdara's last day managing a Grand Lake district restaurant owned by family friends.
It turned out to be his last day alive.
Phomsouvanhdara, 29, who hoped to own his restaurant someday and was picking up the needed experience, died Tuesday morning from a gunshot wound he received during a robbery at Bangkok Palace, 3300 Grand Ave.
Police said Phomsouvanhdara had managed the restaurant almost since it opened about a year ago.
He and a few other employees were in the process of closing just before 10 p.m. Mon-
day when a robber appeared.
Police Sgt. Lou Cruz said a man with a gun entered the restaurant through a back door, confronted Phomsouvanhdara and the others and demanded money.
The robber shot Phomsouvanhdara before fleeing with several hundred dollars, Cruz said. The other employees were not injured.
"Obviously, the motive for this crime is robbery, but I am still not sure why (Phomsouvanhdara) was shot," Cruz said Tuesday.
He said Phomsouvanhdara was a loyal employee known to work 10-hour days.
"It's sad," Cruz said. "He's just a guy who is working every day. That's supposed to be the right thing to do, and this happens to him."
Phomsouvanhdara's 21-year-old wife of three years, who asked that her name not be used, said he was "a great husband, there is no doubt about that," in an interview Tuesday afternoon in the living room of their East Oakland apartment, where several relatives and friends had gathered to mourn.
"He was a very hard worker, he was understanding, he cared. He would be there for you. He was very loyal. You could depend on him," she added.
He had brought his father to Oakland last summer from their native Laos and planned to bring his mother and siblings, too.
His father fainted when told his son had been shot, the wife said.
"He thought America would be a good life, the land of opportunity, and all this happens to his son."
Monday was to be Phomsouvanhdara's last working at the restaurant, his wife said. He was supposed to start a new job today at a San Pablo casino banquet room, another step toward owning his own restaurant.
She and her husband met through family friends about four years ago. They continued their relationship while he attended college in Utah majoring in chemistry, and she lived in Oakland.
"We dated for a year, visiting, e-mailing, getting to know each other better, and then we fell in love and got married. And then something crazy like this happens."
She already had a daughter whom her husband loved like his own. The 3-year-old has not been told.
"How would a 3-year-old take it?" the wife asked.
She said they were working to buy a house and wanted to have children together, but now she does not know what she'll do.
"I don't know how to deal with this. What can you do if you cry all night? What is there to do but get justice? This was really an unnecessary death. He was just trying to make a life for us."
The shooting upset other merchants on the block, in one of Oakland's busiest and most prosperous commercial districts. Auto burglaries and aggressive panhandlers are the usual problems there.
One merchant who did business with Phomsouvanhdara said: "It's a shock, period. Even if this kind of violence happened all the time, you're talking about a man who was severely injured. I don't know what's wrong with people."
Police and Crime Stoppers are offering up to $25,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the suspect. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 238-3821 or Crime Stoppers at 238-6946.
Robber kills restaurant employee
Laos native slain on last day managing Bangkok Palace in Oakland
By Harry Harris, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE
OAKLAND — Monday was supposed to be Sonethavy Phomsouvanhdara's last day managing a Grand Lake district restaurant owned by family friends.
It turned out to be his last day alive.
Phomsouvanhdara, 29, who hoped to own his restaurant someday and was picking up the needed experience, died Tuesday morning from a gunshot wound he received during a robbery at Bangkok Palace, 3300 Grand Ave.
Police said Phomsouvanhdara had managed the restaurant almost since it opened about a year ago.
He and a few other employees were in the process of closing just before 10 p.m. Mon-
day when a robber appeared.
Police Sgt. Lou Cruz said a man with a gun entered the restaurant through a back door, confronted Phomsouvanhdara and the others and demanded money.
The robber shot Phomsouvanhdara before fleeing with several hundred dollars, Cruz said. The other employees were not injured.
"Obviously, the motive for this crime is robbery, but I am still not sure why (Phomsouvanhdara) was shot," Cruz said Tuesday.
He said Phomsouvanhdara was a loyal employee known to work 10-hour days.
"It's sad," Cruz said. "He's just a guy who is working every day. That's supposed to be the right thing to do, and this happens to him."
Phomsouvanhdara's 21-year-old wife of three years, who asked that her name not be used, said he was "a great husband, there is no doubt about that," in an interview Tuesday afternoon in the living room of their East Oakland apartment, where several relatives and friends had gathered to mourn.
"He was a very hard worker, he was understanding, he cared. He would be there for you. He was very loyal. You could depend on him," she added.
He had brought his father to Oakland last summer from their native Laos and planned to bring his mother and siblings, too.
His father fainted when told his son had been shot, the wife said.
"He thought America would be a good life, the land of opportunity, and all this happens to his son."
Monday was to be Phomsouvanhdara's last working at the restaurant, his wife said. He was supposed to start a new job today at a San Pablo casino banquet room, another step toward owning his own restaurant.
She and her husband met through family friends about four years ago. They continued their relationship while he attended college in Utah majoring in chemistry, and she lived in Oakland.
"We dated for a year, visiting, e-mailing, getting to know each other better, and then we fell in love and got married. And then something crazy like this happens."
She already had a daughter whom her husband loved like his own. The 3-year-old has not been told.
"How would a 3-year-old take it?" the wife asked.
She said they were working to buy a house and wanted to have children together, but now she does not know what she'll do.
"I don't know how to deal with this. What can you do if you cry all night? What is there to do but get justice? This was really an unnecessary death. He was just trying to make a life for us."
The shooting upset other merchants on the block, in one of Oakland's busiest and most prosperous commercial districts. Auto burglaries and aggressive panhandlers are the usual problems there.
One merchant who did business with Phomsouvanhdara said: "It's a shock, period. Even if this kind of violence happened all the time, you're talking about a man who was severely injured. I don't know what's wrong with people."
Police and Crime Stoppers are offering up to $25,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the suspect. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 238-3821 or Crime Stoppers at 238-6946.
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