Charge: Convicted murderer used son as shield in police standoff (Seattle, Washington)

Dad PANHNHA K. TANG, a CONVICTED MURDERER, is charged with using his 1-year-old son as a shield during a police standoff. This standoff took place at the apartment of his mother and father, the baby's grandparents.

INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT: Where is Mom? Apparently we have another case of the Invisible Mother. And why is a guy with his documented history of violence allowed anywhere around an infant? What the hell???

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/420731_kid27.html?source=mypi

Charge: Convicted murderer used son as shield in standoff
By LEVI PULKKINEN
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

A convicted murderer is behind bars on allegations that he used his 1-year-old son as a shield during a tense standoff with police.

In charging documents, King County sheriff's deputies describe a near shootout with Panhnha K. Tang, 31, at his Highline-area apartment.

Deputies were called to the complex in the 11400 block of First Avenue South just before 3 p.m. on May 18 after a resident there reported a verbal altercation with Tang, according to charging documents.

Upset that Tang had dumped her mother's clothing on the floor of a communal laundry room, the woman confronted Tang in the communal area. She told deputies she was extremely concerned when Tang threatened to fight her because he was known to carry a pistol in the diaper bag he usually had with him.

Spotting Tang on the second-story balcony, deputies demanded he come down to talk about the incident. According to charging paper, Tang refused and asked deputies to speak with him inside the apartment.

Confronted about the incident, Tang allegedly became hostile and announced that he would not go back to jail. Deputies reported that Tang, his infant son in his arms, rushed into a rear bedroom of the apartment where his 68-year-old father was recovering from heart surgery.

Deputies were able to rush the elderly man out of the room and seize a kitchen knife from Tang's pocket, but the man was able to wedge himself in the corner of the room and maintain control of his son, a King County sheriff's detective investigating the case told the court.

"By then several deputies had noticed that Panhnha was using (his son) as a 'human shield' while at the same time reaching under his coat with his right hand," the detective told the court. "The deputies documented that Panhnha's words and conduct convinced them that he was armed and posed an immediate threat to their lives as well as (the boy's)."

Tang held the boy in front of his head and chest as deputies prepared to shoot the exposed parts of his body if Tang moved to shoot them, the detective said. Deputies ordered Tang to show his hands and release the child.

"I will kill you right now if you do not put your hand in the air!" one deputy told Tang, according to court documents.

That order apparently prompted Tang to drop a heavy, metal object, later determined to be a loaded 9 mm pistol, the detective reported. But he did not release the child, and pointed "something cylindrical" at one of the five deputies.

"Shoot me, mother (expletive)," Tang yelled, according to charging documents.

Instead, a deputy shocked Tang with a Taser stun gun, disorienting Tang enough for another deputy to grab the child, the detective reported. Deputies then took custody of Tang after shocking him a second time.

Searching the diaper bag, investigators found a diaper and baby clothes, as well as two rounds of 9 mm ammunition and a red bandana -- apparently a "flag" for the Bloods gang to which Tang belongs.

"Upon booking it was discovered that the defendant had numerous tattoos showing his gang affiliation to the Loko Asian Boyz, which is a local affiliate of the infamous Bloods," Deputy Prosecutor Samantha Kanner told the court.

Tang remained jailed Thursday, in part because his criminal history includes a 1993 second-degree murder conviction and two 2003 first-degree assault convictions. He has been charged with first-degree unlawful gun possession, harassment and reckless endangerment.