In the early hours of February 19, 1983, a horrific scene of violence unfolded within the Wah Mee Club, a private gambling den in Seattle's Chinatown-International District, forever marking it as the location of Washington state's deadliest mass shooting. Among the thirteen individuals who lost their lives was a 58-year-old Asian man named Wing Wong.
The night, which began with socializing and gambling, ended in a brutal robbery and execution-style massacre that left only one survivor out of the fourteen people present.
The perpetrators, identified as 22-year-old Kwan Fai "Willie" Mak, 20-year-old Keung Kin "Benjamin" Ng, and 25-year-old Wai Chiu "Tony" Ng, were known to the club's patrons, which is how they gained entry to the secured establishment. Once inside, their plan to commit robbery took a dark turn. The occupants of the club were bound, robbed, and then shot. Over thirty shots were fired, with the coroner later confirming that all victims died from gunshot wounds to the head. The assailants fled the scene with an estimated $20,000.
The lone survivor, Wai Yok Chin, managed to untie himself despite his injuries and alert the authorities, providing crucial testimony that would lead to the identification of the attackers. Within hours of the crime, Seattle police apprehended Benjamin Ng and Willie Mak. Tony Ng, the third suspect, managed to evade capture and fled to Canada, where he lived under an alias for nearly two years before being found and arrested in Calgary, Alberta, in October 1984.
The subsequent trials resulted in convictions for all three men. In August 1983, Benjamin Ng was found guilty on thirteen counts of aggravated first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Willie Mak was also convicted of thirteen counts of aggravated first-degree murder and was initially sentenced to death, though this was later overturned, and he too received a sentence of life in prison without parole. Tony Ng, who claimed he participated in the robbery under duress, was acquitted of murder but convicted on thirteen counts of first-degree robbery and one count of assault with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to life in prison but was eventually paroled in 2014 after serving 28 years and was deported to Hong Kong.
