A good Samaritan who suffered critical injuries while coming to the aid of a fellow shopkeeper in Melbourne’s West has died.
Van Viet Truong, 60, an Asian grocer from Sunshine, ran to the aid of a fellow business owner who was being robbed, before he himself became the alleged target of a violent attack by five youths on Sunday.
The innocent business owner was allegedly pushed to the ground in a scuffle with the accused thieves, hitting his head.
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Police confirmed Truong succumbed to his injuries and died on Wednesday afternoon.
Three boys aged 12, 13 and 15 years-old from the Brimbank area, a 14-year-old girl from the Banyule area and a 14-year-old girl from the Brimbank area were each charged with affray, violent disorder, intentionally cause serious injury and intentionally cause injury.
Van Viet Truong died after he was injured confronting young alleged thieves. Credit: SuppliedTruong was spotted on CCTV running to the aid of a fellow shopkeeper. Credit: 7NEWS
They were remanded to appear before a children’s court at a later date. Another 13-year-old boy had his charges withdrawn.
“Detectives will consider upgrading the charges following the death of the victim,” police said on Thursday.
“Anyone who witnessed the incident, has footage or any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.”
Five youths were charged by police, the youngest just 12-years-old. Credit: 7NEWS
Truong had worked at his shop for 20 years, with Premier Ben Carroll previously calling for adult punishments for the group of youths.
“I met with the chief commissioner last week and I’ve told him he’ll have every resource he needs to help us tackle violent crime,” he said at the time.
“This was terrible what occurred to this gentleman in a retail shop. There’s no tolerance for this sort of behaviour, it’s awful.”
