In the early hours of a summer morning in Minneapolis, a night out with friends turned tragic for Arnong Rajvong. The 26-year-old Asian woman was shot and killed on July 13, 2013, in what police described as a drive-by shooting. Rajvong was a passenger in a car with three other people near the intersection of 26th and Washington Avenues North when another vehicle pulled up beside them just after 2 a.m. and shots were fired.
A bullet struck Rajvong in the head, and she was rushed to Hennepin County Medical Center, where she later died. Another female passenger in the car was seriously wounded in the shooting but survived.
The violence that cut Arnong's life short may have been sparked by a dispute earlier that evening. According to Rajvong’s brother, she had been at a bar with a man she had recently met. When the night came to an end, she chose to leave with her friends rather than with him. The man reportedly confronted her about her decision, to which she replied that she would leave with whomever she pleased. Not long after Rajvong and her friends drove off, a car carrying two men approached their vehicle. A passenger in Rajvong's car told her brother that the men in the other car looked inside before opening fire.
In the days following the shooting, the Minneapolis police were investigating the incident as a homicide. Authorities acknowledged they were looking into the altercation at the bar as a potential motive. They had strong leads in the case but had not made any arrests or publicly named any suspects.
Despite the initial leads and the pleas from her family for justice, the case of Arnong Rajvong’s murder has seemingly grown cold. There have been no subsequent announcements of arrests or the identification of any suspects in the years since her death. The shooting left her 7-year-old son without a mother and her family grappling with the unanswered questions surrounding her violent and untimely death.
