Westminster : Man Given 26 Years to Life in Slaying

A Westminster man was ordered Friday to spend 26 years to life in prison for a fatal shooting in a Vietnamese restaurant last year that apparently started when a customer looked at the man and his friends the wrong way.

Judge Ragnar R. Engerbretsen sentenced An Van Dao, 21, in Superior Court in Newport Beach after a jury convicted him in June on charges of second-degree murder, attempted murder, and use of a deadly weapon.

Also convicted on those charges in the shooting were Binh Nguyen, 20, and Tinh Nguyen, 21. But their sentencings were postponed Friday until Sept. 22 at the request of their lawyers, who are seeking new trials for each of them.

Police said the trouble began when the men became annoyed that a woman in the Tu Hai Restaurant in Garden Grove was staring at them. After an exchange of words, they followed the woman’s party into the parking lot and started shooting at the patrons after they entered their car, police said.

Killed in the attack was Khang Duy Nguyen, 24, of Westminster. Anthony Nguyen, 28, of Fullerton was wounded. None of the victims or the defendants were related, authorities said.

The shooters fled the scene, but two of the three defendants were arrested the next night after they were involved in a fistfight and a shooting at another restaurant.