Dallas-Area Roadway Shooter May Be Linked to 5th Shooting

[TXCharlie]

The shooting today happened on the same road I use, about a mile from work.

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/...Y&pageId=1.1.1


Last Edited: Tuesday, 01 Jul 2008, 8:05 PM CDT
Created: Tuesday, 01 Jul 2008, 5:31 PM CDT

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A random roadway shooter who has already been linked to four shootings in Mesquite, Garland and Richardson may have acted a fifth time on the Richardson and Plano border Tuesday night.

Police said a woman who was driving westbound on the President George Bush Turnpike just after 7 p.m. was nearly hit by gunfire between the intersections of Highway 75 and Custer Road.

She told police she saw someone in a dark-colored compact car lean out of the car and shoot at her minivan.

The woman, who was driving alone, was not injured.

Police are still trying to determine if the incident is related to other recent shootings.

The other incidents happened in Richardson, Garland and Mesquite. In each case police said victims said the bullets likely came form a dark-colored car.

The shootings prompted police from different agencies to meet on Tuesday afternoon to compare notes and ballistic results, and to devise a way to catch the person who fires a handgun from a moving car.

"This is something where you really don't have any suspects -- you don't have a motive or anything like that. It appears to be just nothing more than just a random shooting where somebody out there for some unknown reason decides they are just going to shoot at any particular vehicle," Richardson Police Department Sgt. Kevin Perlich said.


SHOOTINGS BEGAN SUNDAY

Three of the four confirmed shootings happened Sunday and shell casings matched from all three incidents, according to Garland Police Department Officer Joe Harn.

Just before 5 p.m., a gunman fired multiple shots at a car sitting at a red light at Buckingham and Shiloh roads, police said.

The 22-year-old driver told investigators that he was waiting at the light when bullets shattered his car windows and back windshield.

He was shot in the hand. A 20-year-old woman in the passenger seat received cuts to her face and arms from the breaking glass.

The woman's 4-month-old daughter who was in a child safety seat in the back seat was covered with broken glass but wasn't injured.

All three were transported to Parkland Hospital and were expected to recover from their injuries.

Later in the day at about 9:20 p.m., police received a second call about shots being fired at a vehicle.

Just five miles from the first scene, police found a pickup truck with several bullet holes at the intersection of Walnut Street and Plano Road.

The 37-year-old driver had been shot in the stomach. His 9-year-old son who was in the truck was not hurt.

The man said he was sitting at the red light when he heard gunfire and that bullets came through the driver's side door.

He was transported to Baylor Hospital where doctors said his injuries were not life-threatening.

In the third incident, police said a car was fired on as it exited Interstate 635 at Oates Drive in Mesquite. The driver of the vehicle was not injured.

The fourth incident happened just before 5 p.m. Monday at Arapaho and Jupiter roads in Richardson. The driver of that vehicle also was not injured.

Investigators said in all four incidents, the victims described the suspect's car as a small, dark-colored vehicle. Police only know that the shooter is a man and was armed with a pistol.

Garland police urge anyone with information about any of the incidents to call the Garland Crime Stoppers tip line at 972-272-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.

[CTR man]

WOW!!! Is someone taking road rage to a new extreme? Anyways, I hope they catch this idiot before he kills someone.

[dadyswat]

We had one like this a few years ago but there was at least one killed in the shootings. The Frankiln County Sheriff's Dept coordinated the investigation and I believe they have helped a couple of other jurisdictions with similar investigations.

[armsmaster270]

Asswipe needs to shoot at someone who can shoot back, Accuratly

[TXCharlie]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....162c4b1e.html
Garland police ID man accused of shooting at motorists


04:48 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 2, 2008
From Staff Reports

A 22-year-old man who may be responsible for shooting at motorists in Garland, Mesquite, Richardson and Plano was in custody this morning, Garland police said.


Thai-An Huu Nguyen

Thai-An Huu Nguyen faces charges of aggravated assault, endangering a child and deadly conduct, Garland police said. Bond had not been set as of late Tuesday when he was arrested.

Richardson police said they expected to file a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against Mr. Nguyen. Plano police also said it expected to file charges. Mesquite police did not immediately return calls made by The Dallas Morning News.

Police said a gunman who shot at three groups of motorists on Sunday and one person on Monday struck again in Plano on Tuesday on the Bush Turnpike. Police had been searching for a black Honda Prelude with an oversized chrome exhaust.

At about 9 p.m. Tuesday, a Honda pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant in the 4500 block of West Walnut Street in Garland. The driver got out of his car, walked to the restaurant and fired into a wall just below the windows. He then returned to his car and drove away. No one was injured, police said.

Locations of six shootings in North Texas over three days

About 90 minutes later, a Garland officer saw a Honda Prelude about a half mile from the restaurant and made a traffic stop. Police said a pistol, believed to be used in the shootings, was found inside the car. The driver, who matched the description of the shooter at the restaurant, was taken into custody without incident.

Police were investigating whether the suspect is responsible for all six suburban shootings that took place over three days this week. Three people have been injured.

Shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday, a woman was driving west on the Bush Turnpike between Central Expressway and Custer Road in Plano when a small black car pulled up alongside her, Plano police spokesman Rick McDonald said. Someone in the car fired a shot, but neither the woman nor her car was struck, he said. The shooter's vehicle continued westbound on the turnpike.

On Monday afternoon in Richardson, a driver was shot at while waiting at a stoplight.

"We feel relatively confident that they're linked," Richardson police Sgt. Kevin Perlich said before the Plano shooting. "This guy turns a corner, goes the opposite direction of our victims and starts shooting at them."
About 5 p.m. Monday, Richardson police received reports of shots fired in the 1000 block of North Jupiter Road. The targeted motorist was stopped at a light near Arapaho Road when three bullets hit the driver's side of his 1995 Ford Explorer, flattening a tire.

The motorist, who was not injured, saw a man in a black Honda waving a handgun out a window.

"The fact that our victims are waiting for a signal light and that they haven't been involved in any type of disturbance or dispute prior to the incidents taking place, that seems to be a common factor with all of them," Sgt. Perlich said.

The three shootings Sunday occurred within 10 miles of one another. Garland police say one gunman, possibly armed with a pistol and driving a small, dark vehicle, may have been responsible for all of them.

In the first shooting, shortly before 5 p.m. in Garland, bullets shattered the windows of a four-door Honda with a man, a woman and her 4-month-old daughter inside. They were stopped at a red light at Buckingham and Shiloh roads.

The 22-year-old man was shot in the hand. The woman was cut on her face and arms by breaking glass. The baby was covered with broken glass but not injured.

About 9:20 p.m., Garland police received another call, to Walnut Street just east of Plano Road. A 37-year-old Dallas man was shot in the abdomen while sitting at a red light with his 9-year-old son. The man's injuries were not life-threatening. His son was not injured.

Then, just after 10 p.m., Mesquite police reported a vehicle being shot at as it exited Interstate 635 onto Oates Drive. The victim was not injured.
Police are puzzled as to why someone might be randomly shooting at motorists. Garland police Officer Joe Harn said he couldn't remember another such case in that city – "not that I recall in 28 years."

Staff writers Steve Thompson, Scott Goldstein, Holly Yan and Rachel Slade contributed to this report.

[Ducky]

So seriously, this guy, of clearly Asian descent, was driving a rice burner with a fart can??? Anyone else see anything kind of goofy about that?

[TXCharlie]

It gets better - Apparently, according to TV reports, he's in the USA on a green Card.

[Bob Loblaw]

So seriously, this guy, of clearly Asian descent, was driving a rice burner with a fart can??? Anyone else see anything kind of goofy about that?

is that an unusual combination where you're at? I grew up in Plano and you can't shake a stick in Richardson (especially around Arapaho and Jupiter, which is where one of the shooting occurred) without finding that exact combo, generally speaking.

[TXCharlie]

Well, he is in the USA on a green card AND is a convicted felon!!!

So WTF was he doing in the USA legally if he's a convicted felon???

Someone's head needs to roll for this!!!

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....162c4b1e.html

Late Tuesday, Garland police arrested the man they say is responsible, Thai-An Huu Nguyen. The 22-year-old's family says he studies nursing, but he's also a felon with violence in his past.

Even if he does post bond, authorities say he will remain in custody on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold. Mr. Nguyen is legally in the United States but is not a citizen, said Carl Rusnok, an ICE spokesman.

On the bright side, if he's a convicted felon then having the gun was illegal, so he isn't a concealed carry license holder nor eligible to be protected by the Castle law. The anti-CHL, anti-Castle law groups can't point to him and scream and cry about our laws, like usually happens even in justified shootings.