Thien Minh Ly

Thien Minh Ly (Died: Jan 29. 1996) was a Vietnamese American who was a victim of a hate crime in Tustin, California by Gunner Lindburg and Dominic Christopher. Ly's murder was notable in that it was the first hate crime with a conviction in California.

Early Life
His father was a South Vietnam officer who planned escape from his homeland to escape from the communists. Ly was a junior varsity tennis player as well as an honors student at his high school and graduated with a 4.53 GPA. After graduating from high school, he then went on to UCLA, double majoring in Biology and English. He was also known for being extremely involved in the Vietnamese Students’ Association (VSA). He wholeheartedly dedicated himself to the UCLA VSA as VSA's Culture Night Director, VSA's newsletter editor, and finally, at the height of his VSA involvement, as VSA President '92-'93. After graduating from UCLA in 1994, Ly then went on to Georgetown to complete a Master’s in Physiology and Biophysics before returning back to his hometown at Tustin, California.

Homicide
On the night of January 29th, 1996, Ly was roller blading near the tennis courts at Tustin High School where he was stabbed about 47 times by Gunner Lindburg, age 21 and Dominic Christopher, age 17.

According to the words of Gunner, “I walked right up to him and he was scared I looked at him and said 'Oh I thought I knew you' and he got happy that he wasn't gona get jumped. Then I hit him...I pulled the knife out a butcher knife and he said 'no' then I put the knife to his throught and asked him Do you have a car then I stabbed him in the side about 7 or 8 times he rolled over a little so I stabbed his back out 18 or 19 times then he layed flat and I slit one side of his throught on his jugular vain. I cut his other juggular vain I stabbed him about 20 or 21 times in the heart. I nidged his face with my shoe a few times, then i told Dominic to kick him, so he kicked the f--- out of his face and he still has blood on his Shoes all over...then I ditched the knife, after whiping it clean onto the side of the 5 freeway...”

The two accomplices in Ly’s murder were discovered on March 2, 1996, through the means of a letter that Lindberg wrote to a former prison inmate, which is where the above excerpt is taken from.

Charges
Since the time of arrest, both parties have confessed their part in the murder. The original arraignment date was set for March 22, 1996 for Lindberg, but has been pushed back to April 19, 1996. Likewise, Christopher's arraignment has been pushed back twice.

Motivation Behind the Crime
This homicide was classified as a Hate Crime due to the facts that white supremecist paraphernalia were found at Lindberg's and Christopher's home. Lindberg carelessly referred to Ly as a "jap" in the letter he wrote to his friend. Yet Lindberg staunchly denies a racial motive. The Tustin police, too, seem reluctant to publicize the racial implications of the crime. For instance, the Tustin Weekly omitted the words "I killed a jap" in their rendition of Lindberg's letter. Furthermore, both the Tustin Weekly and the LA Times have stated that the police attribute robbery as the motive for Ly's murder.

Legacy
A film student at Cornell, Trac Minh Vu, was so moved by Ly’s circumstances that he filmed a documentary entitled Letters to Thien, which documents Ly’s life through letters that his friends and family wrote to him.

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