Vietnamese-American Lawyer ‘Targeted’ and Fatally Shot in Atlanta

Atlanta lawyer Trinh Huynh was shot multiple times from behind at 7:40 a.m. on Monday, and was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital but died from her wounds.

Police have now arrested 39-year-old Raylon Browning over the shooting.

Deputy Chief Darryl Tolleson of the Atlanta police told ABC News that the investigation is ongoing, and the motive as well as the connection between Browning and Huynh are unclear.

Browning was also wanted on aggravated assault charges in a separate incident for allegedly stabbing two people the day before the shooting, Atlanta police said Tuesday.

“We want to see if anyone can recognize this suspect’s particular manor of walking, running, what he was wearing,” Atlanta Police homicide Lt. Ricardo Vazquez told reporters at a news conference on Monday.

Based on the unreleased footage of the shooting, Vazquez said it appears that Huynh was “targeted.”

“We see him following her in another piece of video. … There was another person in that intersection and it appears that he specifically targeted her,” Vazquez said. “We definitely believe that she was a target. Why she was a target, we do not know that yet.”

According to Vazquez, the video appears to show Browning “run up on her … and shoot her multiple times.”

The man was seen walking down the intersection of Peachtree Place and Peachtree Road, where he shot Huynh in the back before fleeing.

Huynh’s sister said in a statement that she loved to travel, dance and “lived every day with passion, love and light.”

She was an active member of of the Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network, offering free legal services to immigrant victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual assault and other crimes, according to Daily Mail.

The 40-year-old was born in Saigon, Vietnam, but immigrated to the U.S. as a child, and graduated from Princeton University in 1998 and Emory University School of Law in 2004.

In January, Huynh posted on Facebook a childhood photo of herself that was taken at a refugee camp on Galang Island in Indonesia in 1979, after escaping from Vietnam.

“We left under the cover of darkness, uncertain of where our tiny boat would drift and how long it would be seaworthy, uncertain if we would see land again,” she wrote. “This is the face of a refugee. I am proud of my refugee status. I am thankful for the opportunities this wonderful country has afforded me and my family. I would not be here if the State of Georgia and this country had closed their doors and hearts to my family. I think this great state and the US have more love to give.”

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