Prior Lake man identified as customer killed in Bloomington restaurant shooting

A 49-year-old man from Prior Lake has been identified as the customer who was shot and killed last week at a Vietnamese restaurant in Bloomington.

Tu Anh Phan was eating lunch last Wednesday at Cô Tư Oriental Cuisine when a gunman in disguise entered the shop and shot him and a 25-year-old server. The server is expected to recover.

Authorities say Phan was a frequent guest at the restaurant and would dine in every Wednesday.

The alleged shooter, 47-year-old Aaron Le, was arrested within 12 hours of the shooting in Kay County, Oklahoma, where he remains in custody. He faces one count each of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.

Investigators say Le walked in 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.

In an update Monday, 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.

Cô Tư remains temporarily closed as of Tuesday, according to the establishment’s answering machine. A family member has organized a GoFundMe to help cover medical expenses for the employee who was shot and pay for cleanup costs at the restaurant.

“While we want nothing more than to continue providing comfort food for our customers, we have to close our business to grieve, recover and rebuild temporarily,” a post on the fundraising page states.