In April 2011, 72-year-old Hoang Nguyen and his wife Yen went shopping at a Vietnamese market in the 3900 block of South Grand. This was something they did every Saturday morning in South St. Louis. But this was their last trip to the market. After leaving the store the couple was attacked by four black youths playing “knock out.” The thugs beat and killed Nguyen in an alley.
Video was later released of Nguyen and his wife shopping at the market before the deadly attack.
There have been several “knock-out game” attacks in St. Louis by black youths since Hoang Nguyen was murdered in 2011. St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay was the first one on the scene at one bloody attack in South St. Louis City.
One local teen told St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce in 2011 that he participated in over 300 “knockout game” attacks in St. Louis.
KMOV reported:
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce wrote on her Facebook page on Thursday that she talked to a teenager who claimed to be part of the “Knockout Kings,” a group that likes to attack random people on the street.
There have been a number of serious injuries – even a death associated with the attacks. Joyce says the teenager claims to have knocked out more than 300 people, and does it to get respect.
She doubts the number of victims, but she says she does believe teens are taking part as a way of gaining respect and importance in their groups.
These brutal attacks are finally spreading and finally starting to gain some national media attention.
