Some San Jose police officers wanted to help the family of man shot and killed in a road rage incident by creating a web page to collect donations, and they have raised over $45,000 as of Monday.
Phouc Lam was shot multiple times on Tuesday morning shortly before 10:30 a.m. near the intersection of Senter and Tully roads. The shooting happened a few blocks from his home.
San Jose Police Officer Huan Nguyen, who patrols the area where the shooting happened, took it upon himself to do something and established the web page to collect donations
"Especially in the long run, they're gonna need it, every single penny that we can give to them, because this story is gonna fade out, and who’s going to remember those kids?" Nguyen said.
Police said there was a near collision between a car Lam was driving and the one the suspects were in. According to police, Lam got out of the car to speak to the other driver and that is when the passenger in the suspect’s vehicle fatally shot him.
Dieu Huynh, the wife of the man shot and killed, spoke out Saturday, saying she is struggling to make sense of all of it and is overwhelmed. The widow said she does not understand why her husband of 16 years was taken so suddenly and violently.
Her husband, who would have turned 38 next week, was the family's sole breadwinner, according to Huynh.
"Right now, financially, she doesn’t know how she is going to manage the rent, the food, and everything else," Huynh said through a translator.
She said she wants people to know her husband, who worked seven days a week as a bus driver, was a good man--and a good father. He started his workdays at 4 a.m., shuttling people from San Francisco to Los Angeles and back again.
Local
Huynh also said she does not know how she will be able to support their two children, including one who has severe autism and needs constant care.
“He was working about 17 hours a day," Huynh said through a translator. "He doesn’t have any days off because of the expense that comes with the family and the special needs that he [his autistic son] has.”
Huynh also said she is struggling with personal health problems.
With her own family back in Vietnam, she asked for support from the community, and some San Jose police officers have responded.
