From: kpham@cs.concordia.ca
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Subject: In the memorial of Luyen Phan Nguyen
Date: 30 Aug 92 20:24:14 GMT
Organization: Computer Science, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec

This article was extracted from Forum ,Coral Springs-Parkland
				Vol 23, No.34
				Thursday, August 20,1992


			VICTIM WAS 'NICE GUY'

	Luyen Phan Nguyen beaten to death in Coral Springs.

					by LARRY KAHN
					Forum Staff


	The last time Jeff Braverman saw Luyen Phan Nguyen,
Nguyen was celebrating his graduation from Coral Sprins High     
School and looking forward to his first semester of college.

	It was the spring, last year, and Nguyen had just
graduated with Braverman's son, Dylan, now a Florida State
University student. They were excited about the future.

	"He came over in his tuxedo and that was the last time
we saw him." Jeff Braverman said. "He was not just a nice kid.
He was a nice ,nice guy. You would be proud to have him as
your son".

	But no one will ever know how the doctor-to-be's life
would have turned out.

	Last weekend, Nguyen was savagely, fatally beaten during
what Coral Springs police are calling a brutal racially          
motivated attack by five young white men.

	He was killed, police said, only because he was
Vietnamese .

	Nguyen, 19, died at Broward General Medical Center
about 5:30 a.m. Monday after the Saturday night beating at a
party at the Springfield Apartments, 9040 Royal Palm Blvd.,
police said.

	Five face second-degree murder charges, with more         
expected: Coral Springs residents Michael Jamerson, 20, of the
4300 block Northwest 80th Avenue and Christopher Anderson, 18,
of the 8100 block of Northwest 2nd Court; Tamarac residents
Michael Primato, 18, and Brad Mills, 19; and John Liptak, 18,
of Margate.

	Nguyen's was the second slaying handled by Coral Springs
police in three days. Retired school Principal Nathanile 
Hankerson ,64, was found dead of a gunshot to the neck in a
burning car behind the Turtle Run Wal-Mart on Friday.

	Nguyen's family couldn't be reached for comment but
people who knew him remember a very intelligent teen who was
happy around people, dreamed of being a doctor and loved getting
involved in various activitives.

	"He was one of those young men who was immersed in every
part of student life."including sports and extracurricular clubs,
Coral Springs High School Principal Bruce Wagar said.

	He also was incredibly bright.

	"He had a whole lot of scholarship money. When he left
here, he had over $8,500 in scholarship money every year. That
was confrimed," Wagar said. "There were 600 students in his
graduating class. He was in the top 20."

	Nguyen was entering his second year at the Unversity
of Miami. He was a pre-med student who, a UM source said,
carried a grade point average of about 3.8 out of 4.0 .

	"You can't say anything bad about this guy." Braverman
said."He had one goal in life and that was to make his parents
proud."

	He also said that Nguyen's father told him early in his
life that his ethnic origin could result in racial slurs or
discrimination coming his way. His father taught him to take it
in but not let it consume him.

	"His father told him, 'You're Oriental and people are
going to call you names, act differenct around you. You turn
the other cheek, '"Braverman said. "He did that".