Man Kills 2, Then Self at Wedding Party

While several hundred wedding guests watched, a man shot and killed his estranged wife and her current boyfriend, and then apparently turned the gun on himself at a restaurant in Long Beach, police, witnesses and relatives said Sunday.

Poly Kree, 41, and her boyfriend, Vichekka Chit, 44, were shot in the head Saturday night on the same dance floor where Kree married the assailant, Le Tan Phuc, in December 1999, said Kree’s 18-year-old son, Sokhan Theam. Phuc, 46, then shot himself in the head, witnesses told police. He died later at a hospital.

A fourth person was shot in the leg and was treated at a hospital, Long Beach police said.

Witnesses dropped to the floor and then frantically ran out of the restaurant after the shooting. Police recovered a semiautomatic handgun at the scene.

“It happened right in front of me,” said keyboardist Touch Hon, who works at La Lune restaurant. “It was terrifying. When the dance floor cleared, all I could see were the bodies lying down on the floor and lots of blood.”

As restaurant workers cleaned up Sunday, they were also preparing for another large wedding reception, which went on as scheduled Sunday night under the glare of television news cameras.

Police spokesman David Marander said investigators would proceed slowly given that the shooter is also dead. “This is probably at the very bottom of their rung,” he said. “People are dead. It’s unfortunate. But it’s a closed case, more or less.”

The shooting occurred just before 11 p.m., several hours into a wedding reception at La Lune, one of numerous Cambodian restaurants in Long Beach. With up to 50,000 Cambodian residents, Long Beach has the largest Cambodian population in the world outside the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Kree, who immigrated with her family in 1985, worked as a welfare eligibility worker in Compton for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, co-worker Vuthana Serey said. Serey sat at Kree’s table Saturday night at the wedding, eating soup, lobster, fish and dessert.

“It was very wonderful, and everything was going smoothly,” Serey said. The shooter, who was not an invited guest, came in after Kree and Chit had danced to the first three songs, Serey said.

Serey described his co-worker as quiet, shy and hard-working. Theam, a student at Cal State Long Beach, said Chit had his mother’s name tattooed on his chest.

“My mom was finally happy for once,” he said. “They were a great couple. They loved to dance and go to weddings and parties. At the same time, they made sure they took care of us.”

But Kree remained threatened by Phuc, her son said. At one point, Theam said, Phuc showed the family that he had a gun. He then disappeared for two months, only to reemerge at the wedding. Kree had obtained at least one temporary restraining order against Phuc, court records show.

“He was just trouble,” Theam said. “He would call her many times threatening to kill her. At one point, he said, ‘Your days are up.’ ”

Witnesses said they noticed Phuc smoking and pacing outside the restaurant during the reception. When he entered, witnesses reported what sounded like a balloon popping and then gunshots. After Phuc apparently shot himself, a security officer handcuffed him because he was still moving.

The music stopped suddenly and the band later screamed for security over the microphone.

On Kree’s refrigerator was a taped photograph of her three children at her wedding to Phuc in December 1999. “We’re standing on the same dance floor where my mom was gunned down,” Theam said.

Kree also is survived by two other children, Belinda Theam, 14, and Sokhom Theam, 21. None were fathered by Phuc.

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Times staff writer Nancy Wride and researcher John Tyrrell contributed to this report.