PANAMA CITY — A Springfield man who said a long-standing disrespect of his family led to him shooting his neighbor in the head has pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, according to court documents.
Diep Hoang Nguyen, 42, was sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison in connection with the shooting at an East Ninth Street social gathering that left one man dead and another blind. He faced the possibility of serving two life sentences before he accepted the prosecution’s plea agreement.
Nguyen told authorities during a taped confession that the incident was a culmination of verbal exchanges that are not taken lightly in the Vietnamese culture.
“He did not go into details of the type of disrespect,” said Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Hawkins. “He just said disrespect was not tolerated in his culture.”
Nguyen told police the Oct. 26 shooting erupted after a long-standing disrespect of his family on the part of his neighbor, 40-year-old Kim Thanh Le. During a social gathering at Le’s home at of 3726 E. Ninth St., Nguyen walked home at about 6:05 p.m. to retrieve a gun and shoot Le. When he returned, he pointed the gun at Le and fired one shot. The bullet incidentally exited Le’s head and struck a second man, 44-year-old Ahn Van Nguyen, in the face — permanently blinding him, authorities said.
Diep Nguyen walked up to police, who were working an unrelated incident nearby, after firing the single fatal shot and surrendered himself along with the firearm, according to police reports.
Le died the following morning in a local hospital while Ahn Nguyen recovered from most of his injuries, only to be left blind from the incident, prosecutors confirmed.
Diep Nguyen was sentenced to serving 25 years in prison, day for day, for both the second-degree murder charge and the aggravated battery charge to be served concurrently.
Because of a previous felony charge, Diep Nguyen also was arrested for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
Court records indicated Diep Nguyen previously assaulted another man with a firearm in 1999 but did not intend to kill him. He pleaded no contest afterward to aggravated assault for firing three shots intending to scare the man but none of the rounds were live.
He also was sentenced to 15 years for being a felon in possession of a firearm.