SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The first anniversary this week of a nightmarish electronics store shootout that left six dead finds ex- hostages still suffering lingering effects and the lone surviving gunman fighting the threat of execution.
The siege at The Good Guys store in a south Sacramento, Calif., shopping center April 4, 1991, unfolded over nearly nine hours. It began with the seizure of 41 customers and employees by four gun-toting young Vietnamese immigrants and ended in a hail of bullets that left six people dead.
Television cameras peering through the darkness at the lighted store windows captured glimpses of the stalking gunmen and cracks of gunfire to show terrified victims huddled on the floor they meant business.
Finally, a sheriff's SWAT team stormed from a hiding place at the rear of the store and ended the ordeal. Three hostages and three gunmen were killed and 11 hostages and a gunman were wounded in one of the nation's worst murder cases involving Vietnamese immigrants.
The episode scarred the hostages and their families and drew attention to the plight of immigrants frustrated by cultural conflicts and difficulties adjusting.
The ex-hostages cannot put the frightening memories totally behind them because they must recall every detail at the trial, scheduled to begin Aug. 12.
'I still have the bullet in me,' said Quinlan Schluter, 73, a customer who was shot with a .9mm pistol as he crouched on the floor.
The bullet pierced his jaw, leaving a hole the size of a nickel, and lodged near his collarbone. Doctors can't remove it, so Schluter lives with it. He figures he's lucky to be alive.
Christopher Lauritzen, the sales manager, hid with another store employee in a closet-sized computer room that could not be opened from the outside. They shuddered at the gunfire.
'We'd keep hearing shots, and we'd think, 'Uh oh, somebody's dead,'' Lauritzen said.
After the final barrage, 'I said, 'I'm not leaving until I see a badge under the door,'' he recalled in a recent interview.
Piecing together the motive was difficult. Investigators thought at first the four gunmen belonged to the vicious Oriental Boys gang, but discounted the theory later.
'The motive was probably some kind of power trip,' said Lt. Ray Biondi, chief of homicide for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.
The gunmen didn't try to rob the store. Instead, they terrorized their hostages for nearly nine hours, training cocked guns on them and flipping coins to see who would be shot next, while issuing demands by telephone to sheriff's negotiators.
They wanted bulletproof vests, a helicopter to fly them to an escape flight to Thailand, guns, $4 million in cash and tea from ancient oriental plants.
They received a single bulletproof vest, which the oldest gunman, Loi Khac Nguyen, now 22, put on. It probably saved his life.
His three companions, younger brothers, Pham, 19, and Long, 17, and their friend, Cuong Tran, 17, were killed by SWAT team bullets.
Nguyen is in jail on 54 felony charges including murder, attempted murder, assault with a firearm and kidnapping. The charges carry carry special circumstances that could make him eligible for the death penalty if he is convicted.
His lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Linda Parisi, will argue at a hearing May 15 that Nguyen was a peacemaker who didn't fire any fatal shots and should not be executed in the gas chamber.
'He did not kill anyone. It is clear from the witnesses as well as the audio tapes that he was attempting to negotiate a peaceful resolution,' Parisi said in an interview.
Loi's brother, Long, was the ringleader and did the shooting, she said.
Investigators aren't so sure.
They suspect Loi shot one of the hostages, who was wounded by the only .45-caliber pistol, which Nguyen carried most of the night.
'Loi bought all the weapons. It was his car used. He did the majority of the negotiating. In my opinion he is the most responsible party for this thing going down,' said sheriff's detective Rebecca Moore.
Moore is in contact with the ex-hostages. At least two suffered severely and haven't been able to work. One man's ankle was destroyed and he walks with two canes. A young woman shot in the abdomen is still recovering. Another suffered a miscarriage.
'The majority of them all say they have nightmares. They're fearful of groups of people. Practically all had some kind of therapy,' she said. 'They want him (Nguyen) to get what he deserves.'
Schluter required nursing care for months, and he is reminded constantly of his wound because of nerve damage that causes him to bite his lip.
But the resilient retiree says he doesn't let it bother him. He has even returned to the store several times, and he harbors no hostility toward his captor, who he doesn't want put to death.
'I'd hate to have anybody die because of me,' Schluter said. 'But I'm sure he should be put away. He's got to pay his penalty.'
Nguyen's parents and the Vietnamese community also suffer.
'There is an increased backlash against Vietnamese immigrants. Some business owners complain they have been discriminated against. Others have been shot at and harassed,' said Hoang Dang Nguyen, vice chairman of the Bach Viet Association of Sacramento.
But he can't be sure all of the violence is racially motivated, he said. And he sees some positive effects from the murders.
Vietnamese parents are more concerned now about their children's education and more cooperative with police in crime prevention, he said.
Nguyen's parents, who fled their homeland in 1975 by boat with their children and came to the United States in 1980, are devout Catholics who speak no English.
Their boys were well-behaved at home, where they lived on welfare and had other problems. Loi fared poorly in school, dropping out his senior year. Long was kicked out for stealing.
The Nguyens, who have another son and two daughters, sat in the courtroom with an interpreter, staring sadly at Loi in handcuffs and jail garb during his pre-trial appearances.
Like other parents, they had wanted their children to do well in school and be successful. But they also wanted their sons to keep the traditions of the Vietnam homeland they barely remember.
The day of the murders, the Nguyens thought their sons had gone fishing.
