Two men were fatally shot and another was wounded at a residence in Long Beach early Wednesday morning, and their assailant remained at large this afternoon.
The crime occurred shortly after midnight in the area of 5300 block of Orange Avenue, and the victims apparently were acquainted with the gunman, according to a family member of one of the men.
One of the fatally wounded men was in his 30s and the other was in his 50s, the coroner's office reported, with one dying at the scene and the other at a hospital. Their names were withheld, pending notification of their relatives, but a GoFundMe page identified one as Suy Phavong, who was described as a "beloved husband, father, friend and much more."
Phavong was 55 and had come to the U.S. from Cambodia in 1979, during or near the end of the genocidal reign of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, according to NBC4. The surviving victim was treated for a non-life-threatening wound to his upper body, according to Long Beach police Lt. Omar Martinez.
No suspect information was immediately released. A man who identified himself as the brother-in-law of one of those killed told the Press-Telegram that four men were hanging out in the home's garage and back patio area when one of them started shooting. Sonny Sourn said his brother-in-law lived in the home with his wife and children. "I wanna cry, but I cried enough already," Sourn said.
Sourn said the man who survived was a friend of his brother-in-law's. Sourn said he did not know the second man who died, but he said he was a taxi driver who sometimes came over to hang out. Sourn said the family doesn't know what sparked the shooting. As of about 6 p.m., the GoFundMe account had raised $520 of a $6,000 goal for memorial expenses and on behalf of Phavong's wife and five children.
