January 27, 2006

Evergreen man killed in front of his home

Chau Nguyen, 43, shot to death while seated in his car on Pettigrew Drive;
no motive established yet by SJPD investigators

By Diego Abeloos
Editor

Evergreen resident Chau Nguyen, 43, died as the result of a gunshot wound sustained in front of his home on Pettigrew Drive on Jan. 14, becoming San Jose’s first homicide victim of the year.

A memorial for Chau Nguyen sits in the driveway of his home on Pettigrew Drive. Nguyen, 43, was shot to death in front of his home on Jan. 14, becoming San Jose’s first homicide victim of 2006.

Nguyen, a senior RF technician at LGC Wireless in San Jose, was pronounced dead at the scene.

San Jose Police initially responded to reports of a possible auto accident in the area on Jan. 14, but instead found Nguyen, a native of Vietnam, sitting in the driver’s seat of his vehicle in front of his home, bleeding from a gunshot wound.

SJPD Sergeant Nick Muyo said investigators are currently working on possible leads in the investigation of Nguyen’s death, but haven’t ruled out any possibility as to why he was killed. Muyo called the murder a “classic case of who done it.”

LGC Wireless colleagues of Nguyen recalled him as a quiet and kind person, as well as devoutly Buddhist.

Melissa Madriaga, senior director of human resources at LGC Wireless, said Nguyen was a giving person, often donating financially to several charitable works sponsored by LGC Wireless.

“He was highly respected professionally and personally,” Madriaga said of Nguyen. “He was easy to get along with. The team he worked with was very close, very family-like.”

Madriaga said Nguyen, who had worked at LGC Wireless since May of 2000, was part of a close-knit team of technicians at LGC Wireless and that news of his death hit the office hard.

“It was shock, definitely,” she said of learning about Nguyen’s violent death. “We’ll all miss him, definitely. It’s a shock because he was such a huge part of our team.”

Kim Nguyen (no relation to the deceased), a production line supervisor at LGC Wireless who worked closely with Nguyen, recalled her colleague as a devout Buddhist, using his lunch break often times to go out to his car and meditate. She added that Nguyen had a great working relationship with his team of technicians and was at a loss as to why anyone would want to inflict harm on him.

Pettigrew Drive, located parallel to Capitol Expressway near Eastridge Mall, was the scene of San Jose’s first homicide of the year when 43-year-old Chau Nguyen was killed in front of his home on Jan. 14

“That’s what we all keep wondering – why?” she said. “We just don’t know. Why would someone do that?”

Nguyen’s death, coupled with the lack of a motive, has SJPD investigators puzzled as well.

“By all accounts, this was a very nice, very quiet and religious young man,” Muyo said of Nguyen.

Muyo said day investigators canvassed Nguyen’s neighborhood this past Saturday, Jan. 21, in search of leads for a possible motive. Investigators went around the neighborhood, passing out flyers and urging anyone to come forth with any possible information for investigators.

“We’re interviewing residents and neighbors to see if they can offer anything on his background and what led to his death,” Muyo said.

Two teenagers at a nearby park on Pettigrew Drive, who requested anonymity, said news of the murder came as a surprise, adding that the neighborhood is generally safe and free of dangerous activity.

To date, there have been four homicides in the city of San Jose in the first three weeks of the New Year.

Anyone with information on this case is urged to call Detective Sgt. Wil Manion or Detective Sgt. Tom Morales of the San Jose Police Department’s Homicide Unit at (408) 227-5283.

Anyone with any information on this crime may also call Crime Stoppers at (408) 947-STOP. Those with information do not give their name, but do get a code number and if a tip results in just an arrest, the tipsters get a cash reward, paid in secret. Tipsters will remain anonymous.