Killed over $35. Just awful.
Crystal Nails & Spa employee Nhu “Annie” Ngoc Q. Nguyen was killed on Saturday after attempting to stop a customer from leaving without paying for her manicure.
According to the Las Vegas Police Department, after the customer’s credit card was declined, the unidentified woman said she would go to her car for a new method of payment. Annie and boyfriend Sonny Chung, who helped run the salon, didn’t buy it — and tried to stop her from leaving without paying.
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The 51-year-old mother to three daughters (and grandmother to two) was then hit and dragged by the customer’s car and later passed away of blunt force trauma injuries at University Medical Center.
Sonny told the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
“My wife ran out and tried to stop her, and then she rolled forward. She kept pushing the gas, and my wife fell off, and she kept pushing more, and she dragged her from here [parking spots in front of the salon] to over there [a McDonald’s about 50 feet away.”
Sonny and Annie were not married, but lived together for 13 years he said. He shared that if the suspect had pressed on the brakes just once, Annie could have gotten out of the path of the vehicle:
“I tried to hold the car back, but I’m not Superman. She ran off for $35 and killed my wife — $35 to run my wife over.”
The woman used a rented black Chevrolet Camaro which had been stolen three weeks prior and was later found abandoned in a nearby apartment complex, LVPD Lt. Ray Spencer shared with CBS News. The police at this time do not think the original renter of the car is involved in the crime.
Police investigators are currently reviewing camera footage to identify the suspect, and are investigating the crime as a murder, Officer Larry Hadfield shared.
Sonny shared about Annie:
“She worked every day — every day — seven days a week. She was a hard worker. That’s all she does. She’s a work addict.”
A GoFundMe campaign set up in Annie’s honor has, as of this writing, raised over $14,500 of the page’s $10,000 donation goal.
Sending our thoughts and love to Annie’s family and loved ones.
[Image via Christy Le/GoFundMe.]