An unidentified gunman shot and killed a 76-year-old man in Philadelphia Tuesday morning.
CBS3 reports that Loi Nguyen routinely took the same walk every morning in and around his home.
“He never left the block so he would literally just come through the alleyway, down Bristol, to L, up L, back to Hunting Park and he would just circle,” Gianna Cianci said.
Police say it happened at 5 a.m. and appeared to be unprovoked.
“It appears that the perpetrator was walking north in the rear driveway from Hunting Park Avenue, walked up behind this 76-year-old male and shot him one time in the back of the head. He immediately collapsed and was pronounced dead on scene,” Philadelphia Police Chief Insp. Scott Small said.
The Philadelphia Police Department describes the neighborhood as a quiet one and says this type of crime in the area is uncommon, according to ABC6.
The victim is Vietnamese American. Police released no description of the suspect and have not indicated if this will be investigated as an anti-Asian hate crime.
“It’s a sad situation because we keep going through this over and over again and it’s hard for us to move forward if we keep going backwards 10 steps,” said Nasir Shawqi, founder of the anti-violence group 17 With Life, to ABC6. “We got to keep trying. It’s a hard battle and it’s going to take a lot of us.”
Neighbors remembered Nguyen as a friendly man well-known around the area.
“It just all happened in the blink of an eye you just don’t expect to see,” Tony Peralta said to Fox29. “Yesterday I see him with his grandchildren just playing and smiling the next day you see him on the floor.”
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