On the night of April 17, 2024, Alison “Kate” LaPorta, a 38-year-old Caucasian woman from Lorton, Virginia, was fatally shot. Her boyfriend, 47-year-old Huy Tien Nguyen, drove her to Inova Mount Vernon Hospital around 11:35 p.m. with a gunshot wound to her upper body. LaPorta was subsequently transferred to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The mother of two was remembered by friends and family as spunky, fun, and a friend to all. She worked at the Fort Hunt Safeway in Alexandria.
Initially, Nguyen told police that LaPorta had been struck by a stray bullet in a parking lot in Annandale. However, investigators from the Fairfax County Police Department soon disproved this account, determining that the couple had not been in Annandale that night. The investigation revealed that the shooting actually occurred inside a vehicle. Detectives later found a firearm near Nguyen's home in Lorton. In the time leading up to her death, LaPorta had sent text messages to a relative expressing fear of Nguyen and stating that he had previously fired shots near her.
Huy Tien Nguyen was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He was held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bond. During his trial, witnesses testified that Nguyen and LaPorta had been arguing at a bar earlier in the evening, with one witness hearing Nguyen say, 'The only way this argument ends is with a bullet,' and another hearing him state, 'I'm going to shoot this girl.' His defense attorneys argued that LaPorta had shot herself.
In September 2025, a jury convicted Huy 'Max' Nguyen of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Prosecutors presented evidence, including the bullet's trajectory and an imprint of the firearm on LaPorta's seatbelt, which indicated Nguyen was the shooter. Following the conviction, Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano stated, 'Kate should still be with us today... I hope that this conviction can bring some measure of closure to Kate's family.'
