San Francisco man gets 11 years for shooting at postal worker

SAN FRANCISCO — A 38-year-old San Francisco man has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for chasing down and firing a gun at a U.S. Postal Service worker.

On May 2, Vo Nguyen pleaded guilty to assault upon a federal employee with a deadly or dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm in connection with a crime of violence.

The incident happened on April 1, 2023. Nguyen yelled at a postal service worker who was delivering mail to his home, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

Nguyen admitted he “aggressively approached” the postal worker and “acted like he wanted to fight,” according to prosecutors.

The postal worker ran away. Nguyen followed him and the postal worker sprayed him with pepper spray.

Nguyen went back to his home, grabbed a 9mm pistol, got into his car and went looking for the postal worker.

After finding the postal worker, Nguyen fired five to six shots at him, paused and then fired another five shots, prosecutors said.

The postal worker ran in the opposite direction that Nguyen was driving. Nguyen made a U-turn and drove after the postal worker, who took cover behind a parked SUV.

Nguyen stopped in front of the SUV and fired another three shots, according to prosecutors. He then got out of his car and chased the postal worker, who sprayed him with pepper spray again.

Nguyen was arrested the same day. A federal grand jury indicted him on the charges the following month.

The sentence was handed down Thursday. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick sentenced Nguyen to a three-year period of supervision following his release from prison. A restitution hearing has been set for Oct. 10.