Wednesday is the one-year anniversary of the fatal shooting of a midtown Sacramento cook.
Sio Meng Lai (left photo), a cook at the Tea Cup Restaurant, was shot to death Nov. 26, 2007, at 15th and V streets after finishing a work shift. Sacramento police officials said today in a news release that they have exhausted all leads and seek information about the incident.
Citizens with information about the incidentare are asked to call Crime Alert at 1-800-AA-CRIME or (916) 443-HELP.
Here is The Bee's Dec. 6, 2007, story about the case:
By Ryan Lillis
rlillis@sacbee.comSio Meng Lai followed his routine the night he was shot to death.
After finishing his shift as a cook at the Tea Cup Cafe on 21st Street in midtown Sacramento Nov. 26, Lai got into his car and drove home. He parked on 15th Street just after 9 p.m. and walked up the block to lock his wife's car, as he did every night.
But before the 48-year-old father of two could climb the stairs leading to his family's apartment, someone shot him and disappeared into what little darkness existed on the busy urban thoroughfare.
This has become a perplexing case for Sacramento homicide detectives, not only because of Lai's law-abiding and honest background, but because no one has come forward to say they saw what happened to him.
"It's just a true whodunit," said Sacramento Police Sgt. Kirk Campbell, a supervisor of the department's homicide unit. "This was a real hardworking, real family man."
Detectives have been unable to develop a motive behind the city's 42nd homicide this year, which means they have also been unable to rule out anything.
"We're looking to get the public's help to give us some direction," Campbell said.
All that is known is that several neighbors around the 2100 block of 15th Street reported hearing a brief argument just before a single gunshot rang out, killing Lai, police said. The victim's son called 911, but Lai was pronounced dead a short while later.
Many residents in that area speak Cantonese, and police officers have spent the past week canvasing the area with fliers and visiting Asian businesses as they search for potential witnesses. Officers also have visited churches, spoken with shoppers at the farmer's market on Broadway and set up a tip line for Cantonese-speaking residents.
Three detectives, along with as many as six police officers who speak Cantonese, are working the case, Campbell said.
"We feel someone heard or saw something," Campbell said. "But right now, we're at a loss."
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