Reward totals $11,000 in Alief woman’s slaying

Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

Jan. 13, 2009,

KHOU.com

Chou Ung, 28, was fatally shot on Nov. 30 at a west Houston gas station.

The killing of a woman who was gunned down while fueling her car is drawing new attention as rewards totaling $11,000 are offered for help in finding her killer.

Chou Ung was low on gas when she left work at her family’s west Houston restaurant on the night of Nov. 30. Even though it was after 9 p.m., her parents were holding dinner so she could join them. She called to tell them she was on her way.

Ung, 28, never made it home. In an apparently random attack, she was gunned down by a stranger after she stopped to fill up at a Chevron gas station in the 11300 block of Westheimer on Houston’s west side.

Ung lived with her parents in Alief, where the Chinese family emigrated from Cambodia 30 years ago. They own several restaurants in the Houston area, including Chef Huang’s, the take-out restaurant where Ung was helping out that night.

Police say a man approached her as she was fueling her car and apparently tried to rob her. They argued and he shot her in the head and ran away.

“We called her cell phone so many times,” said her brother, 42-year-old Tony Ung. “We didn’t know where she was.”

When police showed up at the family’s door hours later, the family was devastated.

“She was a nice and giving person,” her older brother said on the day after she was killed. “She helped out a lot for the family.”

Chou Ung, a graduate of Elsik High School, was studying education at the University of Houston and hoped to become a teacher, her brother said.

He described her as a popular young woman with many friends, known for her sense of humor and her quick smile.

“She was the funniest person,” he said. “She brings all the laughter here. That’s what we’ll miss.”

Crime Stoppers and private sources are offering rewards totaling $11,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and charging of a suspect in the slaying.

Investigators have not been able to provide a detailed description of the killer.