Restaurant delivery driver fatally shot

Richmond police were releasing few details yesterday about the killing of a Chinese-food delivery driver in the Whitcomb Court public-housing project in the city's East End.

A male was found shot to death Monday at 11:35 p.m. in the 2400 block of Whitcomb Street, at the intersection of Conrad Street.

A law-enforcement source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the victim just had delivered an order of food to a nearby residence and was returning to his car when he was robbed and shot to death.

The source said the victim was walking from the house and was about halfway to his car when he was confronted. Police would not confirm that information.

The delivery order came from the Wan Jing Lou restaurant in the 1800 block of Creighton Road. An employee there said yesterday that the victim was not an employee of the restaurant but a friend helping the regular delivery driver.

Alvin Palmer, 53, who is staying with family in Whitcomb Court across the street from where the shooting occurred, said he heard about eight gunshots and ran to see what happened.

"He was just lying there on the ground, but there was no one around," he said.

Police were working yesterday to determine the victim's identity, department spokeswoman Dionne Waugh said.

The victim, who was of Asian descent, had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene, Waugh said.

Police asked that anyone with any information call Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000.

In April, a Chinese-food delivery driver was killed on Easter night in the 500 block of Lowell Street in Henrico County.

Yong Sun, 36, died after making a delivery for The Great Wall Chinese Restaurant. The shooting remains unsolved, but police believe it was an attempted robbery turned homicide.

Sun's widow, brother and father were brought to the Richmond area for Sun's funeral before returning to China with his ashes. John Kang, president of the Central Virginia Chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans, helped make arrangements to bring the family overseas.

"It's a disturbing trend to see this happening all over the states where deliverymen are being targeted. It's quite a sad thing. All these people are trying to do is make a living, and they're set up to be robbed and killed," he said.

In August, prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty in the abduction and slaying of a Fredericksburg Chinese-food delivery driver, according to The Associated Press.

Jermaine Lamonte Montgomery, 34, is charged with capital murder in the death of Yong Hui Zhang, 24. Zhang was abducted July 3 last year while making a delivery for his family's restaurant, China Express. His body was found three days later in Sussex County.

An Aug. 31 trial is scheduled in Spotsylvania County.

Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or .

Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or .