Phila. man gets life for killing colleague at E. Caln restaurant

A Philadelphia man was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for the execution-style murder of a colleague at an East Caln restaurant.

It was the second time in 10 years that Bung Mac, 60, had been convicted of shooting a coworker.

Mac pleaded guilty before Chester County Court Judge Anthony A. Sarcione to first-degree murder in the death of Long Nhat Trinh, 28, of Philadelphia. Mac will spend the rest of his life in prison, Sarcione said.

First assistant district attorney Patrick Carmody said Trinh, a chef at the Hibachi restaurant in East Caln Township, was seated in his car outside the restaurant on Oct. 13 about 1:50 p.m., when Mac fired 15 shots from a 9mm semiautomatic through the closed windows. Witnesses called the assault unprovoked, Carmody said.

During an emotional hearing, protracted by three interpreters, one for Mac and two for Trinh's relatives, the victim's mother, wife and sister all begged Mac for an explanation.

"Why, can you tell me why?" asked Le Le Truong, Trinh's mother, amid tears.

Mac hung his head and declined to respond.

His attorney, assistant public defender Sheryl Willson, offered the only clue into Mac's behavior, explaining that he came to the United States in 1981 after having served in the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War.

Mac was taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese, "tortured and forced to confess crimes against his own people," Willson said. She said that although a psychologist deemed him competent to stand trial, Mac "may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder."

In March 1997, Mac shot Zhao Aiguo, a waiter at the Empress of China restaurant on Route 70 in Cherry Hill, where Mac worked as a chef, police said. The shooting followed a dispute, according to police, and Aiguo recovered from his injuries.

Mac was convicted of aggravated assault and served a minimum-mandatory term of 4 1/2 years before being paroled in January 2002, Carmody said.