Two convicted robbers have been charged in the death of an Alameda restaurant owner in April, prosecutors said on Thursday.
Donte Holloway and Paul Paez, 38, both of Oakland, have been charged with special circumstances in the murder of the Vietnamese restaurant owner during an attempted robbery. The two were in court on Thursday to be assigned attorneys and possibly enter pleas.
Paez and Holloway are accused of killing 61-year-old Cindy Le. Police say Le was attacked outside the Pho Anh Dao restaurant, located at 1919 Webster St., at about 11 p.m. on Apr. 6.
She died four days later.
According to police, surveillance video shows Paez followed Le from a restaurant she also owned in Oakland to her other restaurant in Alameda. That’s when police say Paez tried to take Le’s purse from her, and when she tried to fight him off, he punched her in the face. The punch caused her to fall to the ground and strike her head on the concrete.
Holloway aided in the attempted robbery and hit Le and her daughter’s boyfriend, who was trying to defend Le, in the head with a metal pipe, police said.
Police also say Holloway admitted to being at the scene and swinging the pipe.
The two are getting a special circumstances enhancement to their charges for ” murder by lying in wait and murder during the course of a robbery.”
Paez and Holloway are also charged with attempted second-degree robbery and assault to likely produce great bodily injury.
Prosecutors say Paez was convicted of second-degree robbery and Holloway is a three-time felon. Holloway was convicted of second-degree robbery twice and once for being an accessory after the fact.
Both men are being held in Santa Rita Jail with no bail.
The two were arrested in Oakland on Monday.
Here is the full statement from Le’s family:
At this time the family feels strongly against the publication of any names or photos of direct family members or anyone involved in the case as we don’t know what is to come in the next few months and would appreciate your understanding. The following is the statement that the family would like to officially release:
As a family, we would first like to thank everyone that has shown us love, support, and kindness during these last few months. This tragedy has been extremely difficult and painful for our entire family. However, the amount of love and support we have received from this community has helped ease our sorrows and helped restore our faith in humanity. We would also like to thank the men and women of the Alameda Police Department and other law enforcement agencies for their tireless work in locating and apprehending these individuals. While we have heard that the suspects have been arrested, this news only begins to give us a small sense of closure. Our family is still grieving over the sudden, and violent loss of our beautiful mother, wife, and sister. We now put faith in our legal system in obtaining justice for our loved one. For now, we ask that the community continues to respect our wishes of privacy during this difficult time.
Thank you so much for your time,
The Family of Cindy Le
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