Oklahoma's authorities release video of alleged Bloomington restaurant shooter’s arrest
By: The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has released bodycam footage of the moment Bloomington homicide suspect Aaron Le was taken into custody.
An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper stopped Le, 47, early Thanksgiving morning on southbound Interstate 35 in rural Kay County, Oklahoma. Le’s vehicle — a white Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van with no license plates — was traced to the scene of a deadly homicide less than 12 hours earlier at Cô Tư Oriental Cuisine.
The 48-second video released on Friday was recorded through the bodycam of a Kay County deputy who responded to the scene. It starts out with both the deputy and the trooper approaching the van with their guns drawn.
Le is partially out of the driver’s side door when the trooper orders him to “get out” and “come back to me.” The driver then steps backward alongside the white line on the shoulder of the road with his hands up.
As Le steps back, the trooper asks, “How many people are in there?” Le turns his head toward the officers, but the wind blowing in the camera’s microphone makes it difficult to hear if he utters a response.
Once Le gets halfway between the van and the squad car, the trooper orders him to put his hands on his knees and lay on his stomach. He then tells him to put his hands behind his back.
The video then cuts to the trooper putting Le in handcuffs before he and the Kay County deputy lift him up and guide him toward the squad car.
Le, 47, faces one count each of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder in connection with the killing of 49-year-old Tu Anh Phan. A server, identified in a search warrant as 25-year-old Quang Duong Au, was also shot and is expected to recover.
Le was being held in Kay County, Oklahoma, but jail records show he was received in Hennepin County at 3:09 p.m. Friday. His bail has been set at $2 million, and his first court appearance is set for Monday.
As previously reported, investigators say Le walked into the restaurant wearing a Halloween mask that made him look like an older man. Surveillance video shows Le walking over to Phan’s table and pointing a gun at him. Some people in the restaurant ducked and ran, while others chased Le out the front door.
Phan hid behind a display case, and the gunman marched back inside. Despite bystanders’ efforts to wrestle the gun away from Le, he still managed to shoot Phan multiple times, according to a criminal complaint.
Investigators discovered Phan had been dating a woman who was in the process of divorcing Le and that the shooter was “jealous of [Phan’s] interactions with his ex,” the complaint states.
The complaint says an FBI report was filed earlier this year regarding a “contract to kill” call between Le, his ex-wife and Phan.
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said Le could be charged with first-degree murder considering the amount of planning that seemed to go into the shooting.