Good Guy with a Gun #266: Austin, TX
The attacker's brother says he was deaf and mute and wouldn't hurt anyone. The dumpling shop owner says he came at him with a knife. | Original incident: July 24, 2024
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is somewhat updated from the calendar version.
Hao Li, 51, ran Taste of Home Handmade Dumplings in the Chinatown shopping center — a strip mall — on North Lamar.
Just before 10:30 on a Wednesday night, he stepped outside and found a man waiting on a bicycle. The man pulled a knife and came at him.
Li had a gun, and he used it.
The man rode off, made it home, and went to the hospital, where he died four days later. Police identified him as 57-year-old Chup Prum.
Li called in the shooting. The case landed on the Travis County DA’s desk on August 5th, 2024, and I’ve seen no sign of charges being filed.
The lack of charges is relevant because Prum’s brother, Chum, doesn’t believe that his brother would rob someone. He says Chup was deaf in one ear, mostly deaf in the other, and mute — a guy who biked over from a few blocks away most days, hung around the same shopping center, then bussed down to Barton Springs and back most evenings. Not the type to rob a stranger at knifepoint, and mostly unable to hear warnings if any were given. “We don't see it in him to do what they say he did to end up getting shot.”
But he doesn’t explain why a store owner, who apparently would have seen Chup around a lot, would suddenly think that Chup was attacking him with a knife.
Sources
Primary
Homicide Investigation, 10900 Block of N. Lamar Boulevard (Austin Police Department, via Wayback Machine)
Local news
Fox 7, CBS Austin, KVUE, KXAN, and My Texas Daily all ran clean rewrites of APD’s release.
Man shoots, kills attempted robber in North Austin: APD (FOX 7 Austin)
Man dies after being shot by robbery victim outside North Austin dumpling shop (CBS Austin)
No charges filed in homicide outside North Austin dumpling restaurant, APD says (KVUE)
Police identify 57-year-old killed in north Austin homicide in late July (KXAN)
Homicide investigation launched after robbery at Austin restaurant (My Texas Daily)
The Austin American-Statesman did the only real follow-up reporting, and it’s the source for everything involving Prum’s brother. Family of man killed by Taste of Home Handmade Dumplings owner asking for answers (Austin American-Statesman, syndicated via AOL)