Lakeville, N.Y. – Ai Ho’s week-old baby, Scott, will never know his father.
Tai Ho was shot and killed in Rochester on Saturday.
Ai Ho is now filled with grief, anger and worry, unsure of what tomorrow will bring.
Ho says she and her husband were building a life in Lakeville.
He owned a popular nail salon, Magic Nails, and his eldest son had just moved back in with them.
When she gave birth last Thursday, the two counted their blessings.
“He was so happy,” Ai Ho said before breaking down.
Saturday night, Ho says her husband drove up to Rochester to pick up his eldest son from a weekend visit with his uncle.
She says the child had stayed with Tai Ho’s uncle for the past two years while Ho managed his nail salon.
This fall, Ai Ho says the son moved in with them in Livonia.
Ai Ho says her husband’s uncle wanted custody of the child, which, she says, likely fueled his rage Saturday night.
Around 7 p.m. police found Tai Ho’s body.
He had been shot to death.
Not long after, his uncle, Tai Vinh Dac Phan, turned himself in.
“I miss my husband, I see him everywhere,” Ai Ho said. “It’s just me and my kid, we live alone, no family, no friends, nothing. I had just my husband, I don’t have a friend, I don’t have a family, just my husband.”
Magnifying the pain is the fact that Ai Ho’s other son is still in Vietnam.
The plan was to use Tai Ho’s U.S. citizenship to bring him over to the United States.
With only a green card, Ai Ho isn’t sure now how that will happen anytime soon.
“Now that he died, I don’t know what I’ll do,” she said.
Meanwhile, Tai Ho’s customers are mourning his loss.
“I’m still in shock, I miss him already, just seems funny to come in here and not having him here,” said Lesley Huffman minutes after hearing the news.
Tai Ho’s uncle, Tai Vinh Dac Phan, is charged with second degree murder and second degree criminal weapon possession.
