Elderly Vietnamese American man on morning walk fatally shot in unprovoked attack in Philadelphia

June 22, 2022

A 76-year-old Vietnamese American man was fatally shot in the head shortly after his morning walk in Philadelphia.

Loi Nguyen was returning home from his routine morning walk when he was gunned down near his driveway in the alleyway behind L and Claridge streets in Juniata Park at around 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

Investigators found one spent shell casing from a semi-automatic weapon close to the victim’s body. Surveillance footage in the area shows the suspect standing close to Nguyen before they open fire in an unprovoked attack, according to the police.

A surveillance camera caught the suspect, wearing a red hoodie, running down the alleyway toward Hunting Park after the shooting.

Nguyen was known for his friendliness and his morning walks around the neighborhood.

“It just all happened in the blink of an eye you just don’t expect to see,” Tony Peralta, Nguyen’s neighbor, told Fox 29. “Yesterday I see him with his grandchildren just playing and smiling the next day you see him on the floor … You don’t have nothing inside your soul just to do that to a man that’s so innocent and walks around, literally walks around.”

“This is a tragic homicide,” Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told NBC Philadelphia. “Why someone would shoot a 76-year-old male returning to his home after taking his morning walk — which family says he does on a regular basis — we don’t have a motive right now. We don’t know if robbery was a motive. We don’t know if this individual was targeted for some reason.”

Police said the incident is uncommon for the area. Authorities have not said whether the case will be investigated as an anti-Asian hate crime. No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information or surveillance footage of the shooting is urged to contact the Philadelphia Police Department at 215-686-TIPS.

Featured Image via NBC Philadelphia (left); 6abc Action News (right)

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