Cops nab suspect in California mall assault on Cebu teen

MANILA, Philippines – Police have arrested one of the suspects in the March 11 assault on a Fil-Am teenager in a California mall.

Police arrested Truong Huynh, 25, on Friday, March 27, in San Jose, California.

Truong and others allegedly brutally assaulted 17-year-old Christian Rasner in the parking lot of Valley Fair Mall on March 11. Rasner remains in a drug-induced coma in San Jose.

Christian was at the mall with a friend when two men approached and asked if they were gang members. They tried to run, but the attackers caught up with them in the parking lot where he was beaten.

The teenager’s family denies Christian has any gang affiliations.

“He had a fracture on the back of his skull from when he got knocked out, and he was bleeding inside and that was what worried them, so they said they would keep an eye on him, but he started to lose consciousness and he didn’t know what year it was and they said they had to do emergency surgery,” Greg Rasner, Christian’s adoptive father, told local newspaper The Milpitas Post on March 18.

According to an entry written by Greg on Christian’s GoFundMe page, the teenager’s condition is improving.

“He’s responsive to commands – slowly, delayed due to the injuries and his coming out of the coma. But he’s responsive,” he said. 

The San Jose Police Department’s Gang Unit is investigating the case.

Christian was born in Cebu City. According to a report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Rasner’s father – a member of the Aznar clan of Cebu – was shot and killed when he was 24.

Christian’s mother told the Inquirer, “It was very painful for me when that happened to my first husband and then this happened to Christian now. I was a witness to the violence my husband went through and no.… I never imagined that my son would also fall victim to violence.”

She adds, “Kaya ko siya dinala sa America nang bata pa siya… akala ko ligtas siya dito. Hindi ko akalaing magiging karahasan din ang kahahantungan niya gaya ng sa tatay niya. (That’s why I brought him to America when he was a kid. I thought he was safe here. I never thought he’d face the same fate as his father).”

Witnesses say that after Christian and his friends ran out of the mall, one of the two suspects punched him in the face. He fell on his head and hit the pavement hard. Christian’s companion then called 911 to alert police and emergency medical responders.

Greg told reporters he hopes that the police would release the CCTV camera footage to help identify the other suspect.

The Rasner family is accepting donations to help with Christian’s medical expenses. Visit their GoFundMe page here. – Rappler.com