Nail Salon Shooter Setenced to 65 Years

The Laurel man convicted of shooting his estranged girlfriend and another man at a Shipley's Grant nail salon was sentenced to 65 1/2 years in prison on Tuesday at Howard County Circuit Court.

Tuan Minh Pham, 37, was found guilty by a jury in October of attempted murder and other charges for shooting Lan Hoang Mai Phan and Phuong Thanh Do at the Ellicott City salon in July 2012. Phan and Do both survived the shooting.

"I tried to love him and look past years of abuse... I trusted this man and he tried to take my life," said Phan at the sentencing hearing, according to Wayne Kirwan, a spokesperson for the county state's attorney's office.

She added that the couple's two children live with nightmares as they try to forget the harrowing events, according to Kirwan.

Pham walked into the nail salon where Phan worked and shot her once in the shoulder. Outside, he shot Do four times. Do is the brother of a man dating Pham at the time, according to Kirwan. 

The shooting was captured on video surveillance and played during the trial.

For eight months Pham eluded police, hiding out in Virginia, before turning himself in at Howard County Police headquarters on March 15, 2013.

At the sentencing hearing Pham apologized for what happened through a Vietnamese interpreter, but blamed his former girlfriend for the disharmony in their relationship, according to Kirwan.

Circuit Court Judge William V. Tucker said that Pham went "from a normal, non-violent person into a fit and rage" and said he imposed the lengthy sentence to protect society as well as Phan and Do.

In all, Pham was convicted of attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, two counts of the use of a handgun in a violent crime, one count of reckless endangerment, two counts of violating a protective order while possessing a firearm.

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