Retired Chicago restaurateur shot dead walking to buy newspaper after lunch
A Chicago man who loved ones said was the “epitome” of the American dream was shot dead while walking to buy a newspaper a block from his home Tuesday.
Woom Sing Tse, 71, had just finished eating lunch with his wife at their Chinatown home, when he was executed by a man who pulled up in a silver car as he walked to his local store, according to WGN.
Surveillance video obtained by the station showed the gunman opening fire from inside the car. The driver then got out of the car to fire another shot at Tse as he lay on the ground, the footage showed.
The suspect, identified as Alphonso Joyner, 23, was later arrested and charged with first-degree murder, CBS Chicago reported.
Joyner had previously been arrested four times, including two gun charges, one of which he had pleaded guilty to, the station said. No motive for the ghastly attack was reported.
The broad-daylight attack happened across the street from Haines Elementary School, where Tse’s daughter is a teacher, the victim’s son William Tse told the paper.
“This senseless murder — we can’t comprehend it. We don’t know why,” William reportedly said.
Tse immigrated to the US from China nearly 50 years ago with only $100 in his pocket, and worked his way through the ranks of the service industry to become a restaurant owner in the suburbs north of the Windy City, his son told the paper.
“My dad was the epitome of the immigrant coming to America and taking chances,” his son reportedly said.
Tse had retired nine years ago, and was well known in Chinatown, where he was a “superior” ping-pong player who also played basketball every morning, family members told the outlet.
“He was a good man,” cousin Winnie Tse, 61, reportedly said. “He took care of his family, made money and took care of the three kids. He was a good husband and father.”
Tse’s killing marked the first murder of the year in Chinatown and had community members on edge.
“Everyone wants to know why because we’ve heard lots of rumors,” Winnie told the paper. “People are scared to walk around Chinatown, but you have to live your life.”
“Not only is a family grieving the tragic loss of their loved one, but an entire community and nearby school filled with children are impacted by what happened yesterday,” Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, a Democrat, reportedly said.
“It’s going to take all of us together to get past this cycle of violence ravaging our city and we have no time to waste and no more lives to lose.”
