Former Vietnamese Marine Held as Suspect in 2 Fatal Shootings

A former South Vietnamese marine was identified Sunday as the suspect in the fatal shooting of two Orange County men following a dispute Saturday at a Westminster liquor store, authorities said.

Cuong M. Cao, 38, was arrested Saturday afternoon near his home in Santa Clara and was brought back Sunday to Westminster, where police detectives questioned him in connection with the deaths of Joe Steven Wilson, 21, of Westminster and Dennis Wayne Spradlin, 20, of Fountain Valley.

In a tersely worded news release issued more than 24 hours after Cao was taken into custody, Westminster police would say only that he was being held on two counts of suspicion of murder in the Orange County Jail in downtown Santa Ana and that he would be arraigned early this week in West Municipal Court in Westminster.

Westminster police refused to elaborate on the shooting and subsequent arrest. However, police in Santa Clara, who made the arrest, provided details of the case.

Santa Clara Lt. David Coppom said Cao, accompanied by two middle-aged men and a woman, got into an altercation with the two Orange County men after they bumped into each other in the Wine, Stein & Barrel liquor store in the 14500 block of Brookhurst Street at 12:40 a.m. Saturday. According to witnesses, Wilson and Spradlin had gone into the store to buy some liquor.

Coppom said Cao went to a car, got inside and then shot the two men with a .38-caliber pistol as soon as they emerged from the store. Cao then stepped outside the car, walked over to the fallen victims and fired an additional round into each of their heads, Coppom said.

“I guess his marine training came back,” Coppom said.

After Cao sped away with his companions, witnesses at the scene identified Cao as the assailant to police homicide investigators, Coppom said. Westminster police investigators checked Department of Motor Vehicle records and turned up Cao’s name with an address in Santa Clara, then began checking airlines to see if he was booked on a return flight from Orange County, Coppom said.

Westminster police called Santa Clara authorities after finding Cao’s name on the manifest of one flight to San Jose early Saturday, and asked Santa Clara police to place Cao’s apartment under surveillance, Coppom said. Cao’s apartment was staked out for two hours Saturday afternoon until Cao emerged, got in his car and drove away, Coppom said. He was arrested without incident four blocks away by eight Santa Clara police officers.

Cao was held in Santa Clara police custody until detectives from the Westminster Police Department could drive up and get him, Coppom said. The detectives arrived in Santa Clara about 2 a.m. and left with their prisoner a few hours later. He was questioned at the Westminster police station and then booked into Orange County Jail.

A Westminster police official said Cao was a field soldier in the Vietnam War who held no high rank. Coppom said Cao lives in Santa Clara’s sizeable Vietnamese community, and apparently was visiting friends in Westminster’s large Vietnamese community.