WESTMINSTER : Restaurant’s Owner Kills Alleged Robber

Two men were in custody Sunday on suspicion of robbing a Vietnamese restaurant where a third alleged robber was shot to death by the owner during the altercation, police said.

Chuc Van Nguyen, 25, and Tam Cong Huynh, 21, have been booked into County Jail, while Cuong Chi Nguyen, the 53-year-old owner of the eatery, was released after questioning without being charged, Police Lt. Andrew E. Hall said.

Investigators determined that Cuong Chi Nguyen shot 24-year-old Hoang Van Le about 11:30 p.m. Saturday in self-defense after the three men entered Mai-Hong Restaurant intending to rob it, Hall said.

Witnesses said the three men were arguing with the owner of the restaurant when he pulled out a handgun and shot Le several times in the chest. Officers arrived before the suspects could flee, and paramedics pronounced the Garden Grove resident dead at the scene, Hall said.

Hall said Le and his friends were armed but did not use guns to threaten Nguyen. He did not know what type of weapons they were carrying.

Cuong Chi Nguyen, who lives in Fountain Valley with his family of nine, was not at the restaurant Sunday.

“He’s very upset,” his daughter, Diep My Nguyen, 26, said. She also said she had worked at the restaurant Saturday night but went home early and was told about the shooting by a friend who had heard about it.