Robber kills restaurant employee
Laos native slain on last day managing Bangkok Palace in Oakland
By Harry Harris, STAFF WRITER


Sonethavy Phomsouvanhdara

OAKLAND — Monday was supposed to be Sonethavy Phomsouvanhdara's last day managing a Grand Lake district restaurant owned by family friends.

It turned out to be his last day alive.

Phomsouvanhdara, 29, who hoped to own his restaurant someday and was picking up the needed experience, died Tuesday morning from a gunshot wound he received during a robbery at Bangkok Palace, 3300 Grand Ave.

Police said Phomsouvanhdara had managed the restaurant almost since it opened about a year ago.

He and a few other employees were in the process of closing just before 10 p.m. Monday when a robber appeared.

Police Sgt. Lou Cruz said a man with a gun entered the restaurant through a back door, confronted Phomsouvanhdara and the others and demanded money.

The robber shot Phomsouvanhdara before fleeing with several hundred dollars, Cruz said. The other employees were not injured.

"Obviously, the motive for this crime is robbery, but I am still not sure why (Phomsouvanhdara) was shot," Cruz said Tuesday.

He said Phomsouvanhdara was a loyal employee known to work 10-hour days.

"It's sad," Cruz said. "He's just a guy who is working every day. That's supposed to be the right thing to do, and this happens to him."

Phomsouvanhdara's 21-year-old wife of three years, who asked that her name not be used, said he was "a great husband, there is no doubt about that," in an interview Tuesday afternoon in the living room of their East Oakland apartment, where several relatives and friends had gathered to mourn.

"He was a very hard worker, he was understanding, he cared. He would be there for you. He was very loyal. You could depend on him," she added.

He had brought his father to Oakland last summer from their native Laos and planned to bring his mother and siblings, too.

His father fainted when told his son had been shot, the wife said.

"He thought America would be a good life, the land of opportunity, and all this happens to his son."

Monday was to be Phomsouvanhdara's last

My condolences to his family.

R.I.P.

Hope they find and execute his killer

A life is lost just for a few hundred bucks.

That`s a shame that someone feels they have to take the life of someone. This poor guy life was taken way too early and his family hurt for life for few hundred bucks!

If that idiot had any brains he could have sold the gun he used to kill with for a few hundred bucks.

Man if poeple would just think. This is America, you don`t have to take!!!!

Get a job...anywhere.....Sorry for the rant. My heart goes out to this kid and his family.

OAKLAND
Fear, fury in Grand Lake
Grieving neighborhood angry at police after 2nd fatal shooting in 6 weeks

Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer


The flowers and candles keep coming, but the grief and outrage only get worse.

Grand Lake residents and merchants were mired in the conflicting emotions of sadness, fear and fury this week after the popular manager of a neighborhood Thai restaurant was fatally shot Monday night during a robbery.

The restaurant, Bangkok Palace, was piled high Friday with bouquets, condolence cards and votive candles in memory of Sonethavy Phomsouvandara, 29, who was the second person gunned down in the neighborhood in six weeks.

"You feel violated, helpless, depressed when it hits this close to home," said Jon Di Bartolo, owner of nearby Cafe Di Bartolo. "I don't know how you move on from something like this."

But underlying the grief was frustration and anger over what neighbors called lackluster service from a Police Department they believe focuses only on high-crime areas in West and East Oakland.

They're fed up, and they're demanding the city do something.

"People are getting killed in this neighborhood, but the only time we see the police is for tickets and jaywalking," said Patricia Hudson, a longtime neighborhood resident who works at Walden Pond bookstore.

Police insist they're doing everything they can, but they're woefully understaffed and must allocate resources to areas where they're needed most and where they can do the most good.

"Monday's homicide was a heinous event," said police spokesman Ron Holmgren. "Everyone wants a walking officer there full time. I understand that -- there've been two homicides. But what do we do with a beat that's had 15 homicides?"

Oakland is scrambling to rein in escalating crime throughout the city. Armed robberies have climbed 55 percent since last year, and homicides have doubled, from 23 by this time last year to 46, according to police statistics.

What has residents of Grand Lake and other neighborhoods east of Interstate 580 alarmed is the fact that violent crime, which historically has stayed on the other side of the highway, is creeping toward the Oakland hills.

"It makes you feel very vulnerable," Jenya Cassidy, who's lived in the neighborhood for 10 years, said as she walked with her 6-month-old twins past Bangkok Palace on Friday. "I never used to feel unsafe around here, but maybe that's not that smart."

Grand Lake residents said they've seen a rash of car break-ins, holdups and muggings in recent months. On March 17, an insurance agent was shot and killed in his office three blocks east of Bangkok Palace in what police said was a targeted hit.

The neighborhood, an eclectic mix of cafes, nail salons, bars and Craftsman homes anchored by the landmark Grand Lake Theater, hasn't had a beat officer in about two years. The last one they had, a popular fixture who patrolled the neighborhood on his bike, went on disability leave and retired.

The Police Department has not filled that opening, or any of the 105 other vacancies, because of difficulty recruiting new officers.

And Grand Lake isn't the only neighborhood without a beat officer. Many of the city's 35 beats lack regular officers, so the department moves officers to areas with the worst crime, such as East and West Oakland, Holmgren said.

Aggravating the officer shortage is a slew of parolees recently released in Oakland, a spike in gang violence stemming from an influx of Southern California gang members, and an active drug trade. The surge in crime reflects a nationwide trend, Holmgren said.

Police Chief Wayne Tucker responded to Monday's shooting by deploying 30 officers in the Grand Lake area, using officers assigned to a "strategic area command" he created earlier this year to address hot spots around the city. The officers, who patrol on foot and in cars, will stay there until the crime wave has abated, Holmgren said.

To appease angry residents, Tucker and City Councilwoman Pat Kernighan met with about 100 people this week to discuss neighborhood crime and the police response.

According to some who attended the meeting, Tucker agreed with citizens who said more police officers will help but said residents also need to be vigilant.

Tucker could not be reached for comment, but Holmgren said, "Sometimes, where we live, we get complacent and relaxed."

He offered the usual safety tips: Don't go into a dark parking lot at night with lots of money. Have your keys ready when you walk to your car. Join a crime watch group. Trust your instincts.

All of that was of little consolation to people like Angie Bannag, who works at two Grand Avenue shops and was a friend of Phomsouvandara's.

The two of them emigrated, he from Laos, she from Thailand, about five years ago and became friends when they discovered they speak the same language.

"I'd go over there after work and it would feel like home a little," she said. "We'd speak the same language, talk about our families. We were both far away from home. He was a really good guy."

Phomsouvandara was killed in a robbery that began just before 10 p.m. Monday. A lone gunman walked through the back door of Bangkok Palace and asked employees, who were eating dinner, for their wallets. Phomsouvandara handed his over, but asked if he could keep his green card, friends said. The gunman shot him in the head and fled.

Phomsouvandara, a married man who worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and sent money to Laos, died the next day. His father had just arrived from Laos for a visit.

"The dad cannot even speak or cry or anything. Just shock," Bannag said. "I'm still shocked, to tell the truth. I feel sick to my stomach."

Down the street from Bangkok Palace, which remains closed, at Walden Pond, Hudson reflected on how the killing has cast a pall over a neighborhood she's called home for 30 years.

"What a stupid reason to shoot someone," she said. "It's just tragic. Everyone's just really, really sad."

Rest In Peace