A Chinese-food deliveryman slain in Richmond's Whitcomb Court public-housing complex two months ago has been identified as QianWu Huang, 17, a Chinese national.
He was identified Thursday night by an uncle who lives in New York City, police said.
Huang was gunned down about 11:35 p.m. July 27 in the 2400 block of Whitcomb Street. He was returning to his car after a delivery when he was shot multiple times, and he died at the scene, authorities said.
On Sept. 9, Richmond police arrested Tobias J. Young, 18, in connection with Huang's death and charged him with conspiracy to commit murder.
Richmond police and other agencies had difficulty identifying Huang because of false identification he was carrying, including an Illinois driver's license and a Chinese passport.
"There was no record of him," said Richmond police spokesman Gene Lepley. But after word spread through the Chinese community, detectives received a tip from New York City that led them to Huang's uncle.
"It's horrifying, having someone call and say one of your relatives has been killed," said John Kang, president of the Central Virginia Chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans.
Kang said Huang's identity already was widely known in the Asian community because a Chinese news Web site had reported it a week after the murder. Lepley said police were aware of the news report but said "it did not meet our standards for identification."
Authorities say it was unclear whether anything was stolen from Huang.
Arrangements are being made to transport Huang's remains to a funeral home in New York City.
Huang was the second delivery driver slain this year in the Richmond area, the first being another Chinese-food deliveryman killed in an attempted robbery in Henrico County in April.
In Richmond, there have been five robberies of food-delivery drivers this year, four in Chesterfield County and seven in Henrico.
One of the Chesterfield robberies occurred Wednesday night, when a pizza deliveryman was called to Loyal Avenue around 9 p.m. and held up with what he believed to be a gun.
On Sept. 7, a Chinese-food delivery driver in Richmond and another in Chesterfield were robbed. The Chesterfield victim was wounded when he was struck on the head with an unknown object.
"This has been something that's been happening all over the Unites States for a couple of years now," Kang said. "But the fact that we've had so many in such a short period of time now is rather disturbing."
A meeting of top area law-enforcement officials and members of the Asian community was held last week in Henrico to discuss what could be done to prevent delivery robberies.
"The problem is that not many of the Chinese restaurant owners went," Kang said, "so we're trying to come up with a brochure or a flier."
Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or whester@timesdispatch.com.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement