Double murder in 2006 haunts Aurora detective

Aurora police Detective Robert Wilson revisits the scene of the unsolved double homicide in the parking lot near Interstate 70 and Chambers Road. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

Christopher Le, left, and friend Quoc Phan were gunned down as Le prepared to fight another man in a hotel parking lot. (The Denver Post)

April 15, 2012
By Felisa Cardona
Denver Post(Colorado, USA)

Six years ago today, two young men associated with the Asian Pride gang were gunned down in the parking lot of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Aurora during a Cambodian New Year celebration.

The double homicide is one case Aurora police Detective Robert Wilson would like to solve. But silence from witnesses has so far prevented him from seeking justice.

"We want these families to know we haven't forgot about them," Wilson said. "From Day One, this is one of the most frustrating cases in my 24 years as a detective."

One of the victims, Christopher Le, agreed to meet an associate of the Tiny Rascals Gang at the hotel for a fistfight. Earlier in the day, the two argued at a New Year's gathering at the former Lao Buddhist Temple in Westminster.

The men had a personal beef with each other that didn't have anything to do with their rival gang associations, Wilson said.

When Le arrived at the hotel parking lot around 11:30 p.m., his foe was waiting for him in the lobby and went outside to meet him, followed by a large crowd.

The rival took off his shirt and put up his dukes, but before he and Le could exchange blows, a dark truck pulled through the parking lot, and the occupants inside opened fire with two guns.

Le and a friend he brought with him to the fight, Quoc Phan, were each hit by gunfire and killed.

"We want these families to know we haven't forgot about them." —Aurora police detective Robert Wilson The man Le was about to fight looked on in shock as the shooters in the truck raced away.

Wilson said all the witnesses he has interviewed, even friends of Le, have told him the man who was about to fight Le had no idea a shooting was about to occur.

But Wilson doesn't believe that no one at the celebration knows who pulled the trigger.

Hundreds of revelers

Hundreds of people celebrating the New Year were inside the hotel ballroom near Interstate 70 and Chambers Road. In another ballroom, members of the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire, a nonprofit gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organization, were also having an event. Some of the revelers from both ballrooms were either outside to smoke cigarettes or went outside to watch the fight.

"Two people jump out with weapons and nobody could see who they were?" Wilson said. "Fear is a factor when two groups associated with two known gangs are involved."

Time was also working against Wilson because someone removed Le and Phan's cellphones and wallets, and detectives didn't identify them until 6 p.m. the next day.

Alcohol was served at both events in the hotel, which could

have impaired what some of the witnesses saw. No surveillance video of the shooting was available either.

But Wilson is searching for two witnesses who are Tiny Rascal Gang members — Sam Nang Chhann, also known as "Hyper," and Davy Pech, also known as "Bamboo."

Chhann, 26 at the time, is from Southern California. He had warrants out for his arrest for a 2002 robbery in Pomona, Calif., and he came to Denver probably to avoid arrest there, Wilson said. He was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Aurora, but failed to appear at his court date, which was two days after the double homicide.

"I am the only cop who has queried him," Wilson said of crime information database searches. "He has had no contact with law enforcement since 2006."

Wilson said Chhann never had a passport and there is no record of him leaving the country.

Pech, who was 25 at the time, was born in Thailand and all of his police contacts were in Long Beach, Calif., before 2006.

He has convictions for aggravated assault with a weapon and writing fictitious checks.

2 sought could be dead

Rumors are rampant that both men are dead, Wilson said. Some sources have told Wilson they fled to Cambodia and are hiding in the jungle. Wilson declined to call them suspects.

In the summer of 2008, a major Ecstasy drug ring was busted in Colorado, and many of the people indicted were members of the Asian Pride gang.

The Metro Gang Task Force allowed Wilson to interview some of the defendants to glean any information he could in order to solve the double homicide.

None of the 27 people indicted in the drug case were at the scene, and one who was later identified as being there claimed he wasn't there, Wilson said.

While some in the Asian community have tried to help solve the case, most have been tight-lipped, and Wilson hopes that time may change someone's mind about coming forward.

"I just want to know what they saw," he said. "We are working for these two kids and their families."

Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com or Twitter @felisacardona

Witnesses sought

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Robert Wilson at 303-627-3149 or Detective Steve Conner at 303-739-6013. Anonymous tipsters may call CrimeStoppers at 720-913-7867.