Two Charged In Gang Kidnap Attempt, Bomb Making
August 11, 2008 by national
Filed under Stories of Interest
Prosecutors have charged two men in the attempted kidnapping of a former gang member from the Uwajimaya grocery store in Seattle.
Quang D. Tang and Phihoa Long Nguyen are accused of trying to abduct a former member of a Seattle drug gang and have been charged with first-degree attempted kidnapping, third-degree assault and felony harassment. They also face charges of possession of an explosive device, after police found several bombs and bomb-making materials in a South Seattle house they were living in.
According to police reports, the investigation into Tang and Nguyen started on June 25 when sheriff’s deputies were called to a house where a former gang member had been staying. Residents there said Tang and Nguyen threatened to kill the family living there and burn down the family business if they didn’t turn over the former gang member.
Tang, Nguyen and a third suspect later caught up with the man they were looking for outside the Uwajima store in Seattle’s International District.
According to police, they tried to drag the man from the store and into the trunk of a waiting car. The man was able to fend them off long enough for police to arrive, which prompted Tang and Nguyen to flee.
The man told police he saw a 22-inch-long machete and shotgun in the trunk and realized that, if they got him into the trunk, “soon I would be in a coffin.”
