Bounhom Manyvong, 59, of Oakland, was shot and killed while working as a security guard at the AutoZone store at 10111 International Boulevard, near 101st Avenue in East Oakland, on the evening of Saturday, December 19, 2009. He died at a hospital at 8:08 p.m. The Oakland Police Department investigated, and his killing was the city's 106th homicide of the year.
According to police, two men entered the store just after 7 p.m. and began arguing with Manyvong.
Moments later one of them pulled out a gun and shot him three times inside the store. Before running off, the men took Manyvong's own handgun. Store employees were present, but no one else was hurt, and police said the men did not appear to take any merchandise. Investigators were unsure whether the men had come to rob the store or for some other reason.
Manyvong was not supposed to be working that night. A relative told police he was called in because the guard scheduled for the shift could not make it. He had worked at the store for at least six years and was no stranger to danger on the job: friends said he had once suffered two black eyes during an attempted theft, and had been robbed years earlier while guarding a Bank of America branch.
Nine days later, police released surveillance photos of the two men. The gunman was described as a Black man in his late 20s or early 30s, about 6 feet tall and thin, wearing a green jacket with a fur-lined hood, a black do-rag, a white T-shirt, blue jeans and light blue tennis shoes. The second man was described as a thin Black man in his 20s, about 5 feet 8, in a black hooded sweatshirt and black pants. Police also sought a man in his 30s who had been talking on a cell phone nearby, wearing a red jacket and a Cincinnati Reds cap. In May 2011, Oakland police asked the public again to help identify the two men, and police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland offered up to $15,000 for information.
Manyvong came to the United States from Laos in 1982, after serving in the Laotian military as an infantryman. A co-worker, Tom Ounniyom, called him "big brother" and said, "He was a good guy. I always called him when I needed help with a problem." He was a proud father; one of his sons, Thomas, was serving in the U.S. Air Force and said his father liked guarding because it was like his service in Laos, helping the community. About 300 people, including more than 50 security guards, attended his funeral.
Oakland was one of the most violent large cities in California in those years. The city recorded 148 homicides in 2006 and more than 100 in most years through 2013, and its police department solved far fewer of them than the statewide average. In 2010 and 2011, Oakland police cleared only about 30 percent of the city's homicides.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Bounhom Manyvong could be found in news archives or public records. More than 16 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. The Washington Post's homicide database, which tracked killings in Oakland from 2008 through 2017, lists the case as open with no arrest. Someone who recognizes the men from the 2009 surveillance photos, or who was near the AutoZone that evening, may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a car seen leaving the area or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Oakland Police Department Homicide Section at (510) 238-3821 or the homicide tip line at (510) 238-7950, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers of Oakland at (510) 777-8572.
