Tampabay: Two men kidnap, shoot woman

Two men kidnap, shoot woman

A freshman at USF is in critical condition after being taken from the lot of her gated Tampa complex.

By AMY HERDY and CHRIS TISCH

TAMPA -- Barefoot and covered in blood from multiple gunshot wounds, 20-year-old Lai Chau struggled for 30 minutes to make it from the alley where she had been left for dead to the nearest house, 200 yards away.

There, Chau banged on the front door, leaving a bloody handprint on the glass.

"Help me, please help me," she moaned before collapsing in a chair on the front porch. A couple inside dialed 911.

Intent on stealing her pink 1998 Acura Integra, two men kidnapped the University of South Florida pre-med freshman from the parking lot of her gated complex, the Remington Apartment Homes at 10610 N 30th St., shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday, police said.

An hour later, the men shot her in the head and left her behind Forest Hills Elementary on N Ola Street as they drove off in her car, police said.

Chau was in critical condition late Friday at St. Joseph's Hospital. She has been unable to give investigators a description of her assailants.

The Integra, a high school graduation gift from Chau's father, was found about 12:30 a.m. Friday at an apartment complex at 2301 E Sligh Ave. The car had been set on fire.

Five blocks away, a white Dodge Neon was also stolen, reportedly by two men. Police are investigating whether the crimes are related, said Tampa police spokeswoman Katie Hughes. The Neon was later recovered, and both cars were taken to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement office to be searched.

Chau had last spoken to a friend on her cellular phone about 11 p.m. as she drove to Tampa from her parents' Clearwater restaurant, saying she would be home soon.

Her father, Charlie Chau, said his daughter had helped him at his restaurant, The Wok Out at 1444 Belcher Road, on Thursday. He received a phone call from police at 4 a.m.

Born in St. Petersburg and a former honors student at Pinellas Park High School, she moved to Tampa soon after graduation to attend USF. Her father said she spent her time studying, watching videos and taking her little sister to the movies.

Charlie Chau has owned the restaurant for 15 years, and family members are the only employees. His brother, mother and Lai Chau's 11-year-old sister helped Friday afternoon, filling orders of moo shu pork and extra-hot Mongolian beef as customers offered prayers and support.

Hughes said it was unclear whether Lai Chau got out of her car before being kidnapped. Although the complex is gated, Hughes said, it appears that nonresidents are able to drive into parts of the parking lot.

Management from Remington declined to comment.

Charlie Chau said the police told him his daughter was shot three times. One bullet went through her cheek and remained lodged in her face Friday afternoon, he said. Another went into her neck, while a third hit the back of her head, he said.

Charlie Chau, who came to the United States from Vietnam 26 years ago, struggled to make sense of the violence as images of Osama bin Laden flickered on a television in the restaurant.

"I don't know why these people, who are citizens, do that to their own people," he said. "They are not bin Laden."

-- Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Amy Herdy can be reached at (813) 226-3386 or herdy@sptimes.com.