In the chilly rain early Thursday morning, Sacramento County sheriff's SWAT officers poured from an armored truck and surrounded a beige tract house across the street from John Still Middle School.
Inside, the department's most wanted suspect emerged, a bleary-eyed and tiny 16-year-old looking "terrified," an eyewitness said.
Officers looked at the "wanted" flier with his photo and scrutinized the boy: That was him.
The teen, who is being held in juvenile hall, is suspected of fatally shooting county sheriff's Detective Vu Nguyen on Wednesday afternoon during a chase through south Sacramento backyards.
The teen was not armed when arrested, but sheriff's officials are conducting ballistics tests on several guns found during the investigation, including one found soon after Nguyen was shot.
Grief and mourning are just beginning over the loss of Nguyen, whose family wept inconsolably Wednesday night. He was married in April. Formal plans for the funeral have not been finalized, but it may be next week after Christmas.
Detectives and prosecutors worked Thursday to build a case against the teen, who was described by one friend as a "wannabe" and by Sheriff John McGinness as a small but ruthless person.
"The bottom line is physical stature (and) age are really not relevant when you have somebody who is consumed with a passionate hatred and a desire to harm others," McGinness said. "And particularly when they're armed, it's a perfect combination for horrible things to happen."
Nguyen, a seven-year veteran of the department, was heavily involved in the Asian community and widely respected as an officer trying to improve life in some of the county's roughest neighborhoods.
"He shared the same hard-core, sincere belief that many of us do, that there is nothing more important in terms of societal efforts than the protection of the public," McGinness said. "His efforts made Sacramento County a safer place."
Officials did not release the teen's name Thursday, but said he is expected to be charged as an adult within 72 hours of his arrest.
The shooting happened just after 2 p.m. Wednesday, as Nguyen and his partner were making routine contacts with gang members.
Nguyen and his partner spotted a small Asian youth standing in front of a house where known gang members live at 37th Street and 42nd Avenue, said sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran.
When officers made eye contact with the teen, he ran. Nguyen chased him. Moments later, Nguyen's partner heard gunshots. He ran to where he'd heard them and found his partner shot in the neck.
Nguyen was rushed to UC Davis Medical Center, where he died.
Ping "Pinky" Phrommauongxay, 20, said she was inside the house where deputies first spotted the teen when she heard the gunfire.
Minutes later, she said, officers demanded she exit the house and she was cuffed and questioned about the incident, which she did not witness.
On Thursday, Phrommauongxay said she's known the teen for about seven years. She described him as a "floater" or a wannabe.
"He just tries to fit in," she said.
She said he had no father figure, so she has tried over the years to give him discipline. Once, when he was 9, she said, she tied him to a tree "to embarrass him" and toughen him up.
She and other friends beat him up last week, she said, "but I guess it didn't work."
"It was like tough love," she said. "The environment we're in is not the best."
Phrommauongxay said she doesn't know whether he commits crimes to represent his gang, but "he wouldn't be very good at it."
She said the teen came to the house regularly on his bicycle, sometimes playing basketball at the hoop facing the street.
In front of the yellow house Thursday, empty beer bottles and cardboard beer cases flanked a baby carriage.
The neighborhood around that house was the scene of a siege by law enforcement Wednesday afternoon and night as authorities searched for a suspect.
But they found their suspect hours later in Meadowview, at his sister's home across the street from John Still Middle School.
Call The Bee's Christina Jewett, (916) 321-1201. Steve Magagnini contributed to this story.
