Tan Cuong Nguyen

On the evening of Friday, November 24, 2000, 19-year-old Tan Cuong Nguyen was having dinner with 17-year-old Myanh Thi Nguyen at the Cheo Leo Restaurant in Surrey, British Columbia. The Vietnamese restaurant, located at 14775 108th Avenue, was the scene of a sudden and brutal attack that shattered the night and left two young lives extinguished. While the two were dining, assailants unleashed a hail of bullets from automatic weapons, killing both Tan and Myanh.

The sheer violence of the attack was shocking. A 23-year-old male diner was also caught in the gunfire and was hospitalized in serious condition. In the immediate aftermath, police stated their belief that the shooting was gang-related, a pronouncement that cast a grim shadow over the case. The brazen and public nature of the execution-style killings suggested a targeted hit, part of the ongoing gang conflicts that plagued the Lower Mainland region during that period. However, authorities did not release information about who the intended target might have been.

The investigation into the double homicide was initially handled by the Surrey detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Despite the public nature of the crime, the investigation grew cold over the years. No suspects were publicly identified, and no arrests were made, leaving the families of Tan and Myanh without answers or justice. The case became one of dozens of unsolved murders on the files of the Surrey RCMP, a painful reminder of a violent past.

For more than two decades, the case has remained in investigative limbo. The lack of resolution has left a void for the loved ones of the victims and the community. Details about Tan and Myanh's lives—their families, their aspirations, their personalities—have remained private, lost in the public narrative that has focused solely on the violent, gang-related nature of their deaths. The human story of the two young people who were just sharing a meal has been overshadowed by the cold brutality of their final moments.

The era in which the murders occurred was marked by significant gang violence in the Metro Vancouver area, with various groups vying for control of the drug trade. Public spaces like restaurants and bars sometimes became the backdrop for violent confrontations, leaving a trail of victims and instilling fear in the community. The shooting at the Cheo Leo Restaurant was a stark example of this trend, where the lives of bystanders and associates could be tragically cut short.

As of October 2024, the murders of Tan Cuong Nguyen and Myanh Thi Nguyen remain unsolved. Their file is one of 56 cold case homicides being transferred from the Surrey RCMP to the newly formed Surrey Police Service. This transition offers a potential new beginning for the investigation, a chance for fresh eyes to review the evidence and explore new leads. For the families waiting for answers for more than two decades, it represents a glimmer of hope that the individuals responsible for the massacre at the Cheo Leo Restaurant will finally be held accountable.