A man chased down and fired a dozen shots at a U.S. Postal Service employee who had been delivering mail at his San Francisco home, unloading an “entire magazine” at him, according to federal prosecutors.
More than a year later, on July 18, a judge sentenced 38-year-old Vo Nguyen to 11 years in prison over the shooting, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced July 19.
In May, Nguyen pleaded guilty to assault on a federal employee with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm in the course of the assault, prosecutors said in a news release.
“It is sheer luck that (Nguyen) did not hit (the postal worker) or any other bystander,” prosecutors wrote in sentencing documents.
Nguyen’s public defender didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on July 22.
Man grabs pistol after he’s pepper-sprayed
The shooting stems from April 1, 2023, when Nguyen “aggressively approached” the postal worker outside of his home, prosecutors said.
Nguyen appeared “as though he wanted to fight,” causing the man to back away from him, according to the government’s sentencing memorandum.
Nguyen’s sister was there and shouted to him that the employee was “federal,” the sentencing memorandum says.
When the USPS worker started to run away, Nguyen followed him down the street, passing a few houses, according to prosecutors.
The employee pepper-sprayed Nguyen, who headed home and retrieved a 9-millimeter pistol, prosecutors said.
Nguyen got in his car with the weapon and “went looking for the USPS employee,” according to prosecutors.
Once he spotted the man, Nguyen shot at him five or six times — stopped — and shot at him five more times, prosecutors said.
The postal worker ran off in “in the opposite direction Nguyen was driving,” leading to Nguyen making a U-turn to follow after him, according to prosecutors.
As the man hid behind a parked SUV, Nguyen shot at him three times and drove away, prosecutors said.
Then Nguyen returned to find the man and chased him again, according to prosecutors.
Nguyen’s pursuit of the postal worker ended soon after the man pepper-sprayed him a second time because authorities arrived and arrested him, prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo.
David W. Rizk, Nguyen’s counsel, said that Nguyen was struggling with alcohol abuse around the time of the shooting and was experiencing stress in his personal relationships, according to a sentencing memo filed by Rizk.
“On that morning, (Nguyen) was very drunk and candidly cannot recall what family matter had caused him to become so upset when he stepped out of his parents’ house along with his sister, and unexpectedly encountered the mailman, who he inexplicably confronted,” Rizk wrote.
“Nguyen is genuinely remorseful and devastated by his actions,” the sentencing memo says.
Rizk argued against a prison sentence of more than a decade for his client, the filing shows.
Meanwhile, prosecutors noted Nguyen has a previous criminal history involving violence, including seven convictions and seven arrests. One was related to a murder in 2005, prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memorandum.
Nguyen’s “actions were extremely dangerous and could have resulted in severe injury or death,” the sentencing memo says.
His prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release, according to prosecutors.
Nguyen is expected to pay the USPS employee restitution, prosecutors said. On Oct. 10, a hearing will be held on the restitution amount.
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