It has been more than two weeks since Linh Le got the terrible news that her husband was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting but still, none of it makes sense.
“I don’t know what happened. He’s just a normal person and then he (was going) home,” Le told Global News, tears pouring down her face.
Tung Do, her husband of 13 years and father of the couple’s two children, owned his own company installing crown moulding. He worked seven days a week, according to Le, and when he was not working, he was home, helping with the kids.
“He very, very good husband and for my children, he’s a very good daddy. He took care of everything,” Le said.
On June 12, Do went to work in his unmarked Mercedes Sprinter van when he was shot at around 11:30 a.m., as he was driving westbound along Steeles Avenue West near Islington Avenue.
Le said she had no idea anything was wrong until she tried to call her husband without luck and began to worry. She even asked friends to try his phone number but he didn’t answer, nor return calls or text messages.
It was only later that evening when police arrived at the doorstep of the family home that Le realized something was wrong.
“I think maybe my husband had an accident when he driving,” she recalled.
She said her husband had never been in trouble with police before, repeating that he was a hard-working family man.
The lead detective on the case, Det. Sgt. Amanda Thornton of the Toronto police homicide and missing persons unit, tells Global News there is nothing in the victim’s background to suggest Do was the target. Thornton says they are open to the possibility he may have been the victim of mistaken identity or that it was a random shooting.
Officers have canvassed for security video and spoken to witnesses in the area where the shooting happened but continue to appeal for dashcam video from drivers who were in the area at the time. No arrests have been made.
Do’s mother Oanh Nguyen, who travelled from Vietnam to Toronto after hearing the devastating news about her only son, who supported her financially and emotionally, is also anxious for answers. Speaking through a translator, she says she wants to know what happened to her son, for her own peace and for his.
The family has spent hours since the shooting kneeling in front of an altar table with a photo of Do prominently displayed surrounded by fruit and incense burning. As they wait for answers, they pray for an arrest.
Anyone who can help police with this investigation is asked to call Toronto police at 416-808-7400 or contact Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477) or at 222tips.com.