One day after a local attorney was shot and killed on a busy Midtown street, police announced the arrest of a man in connection with the crime.
Raylon Browning, 39, of Roswell, is accused of shooting Trinh Huynh, 40, about 7:40 a.m. Monday as she walked on Peachtree Place at the intersection with Peachtree Street.
Huynh, who lived about a block from the scene of the shooting, died from her injuries after being taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.
Browning was arrested Monday night after he ran a red light in Cobb County. Police found out he was already wanted in Atlanta on aggravated assault charges stemming from an attack Sunday, Atlanta police Deputy Chief Darryl Tolleson said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
He allegedly stabbed two people during that encounter in the 1100 block of West Peachtree Street. The victims, who knew Browning, identified him to police. Tolleson said Browning was a contractor working in the area.
Cobb police also found what is thought to be the murder weapon inside his car. Browning was wearing the same clothes he had on when he allegedly committed the murder, Tolleson said.
Cobb police did not know Browning was the a suspect in Huynh’s murder when he was arrested.
An Atlanta police investigator handling Sunday’s assault and a Crime Stoppers tip helped connect Browning to Huynh’s death.
Browning was booked into the Fulton County jail on murder charges.
Police do not know a motive at this time for either crime, but more details could emerge after Browning’s first court appearance scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Surveillance footage captured him approaching Huynh and leaving the area, Lt. Ricardo Vazquez said.
“It (surveillance footage) shows that he was very calm before the shooting incident,” Vazquez said. “And then, even though he runs after the shooting incident, he again slows down and just starts to walk away.”
It wasn’t Browning’s first run-in with the law. Officials said he’s been arrested on drug and DUI charges and has gotten violent with police when arrested in the past.
“But nothing that you would think he is accused of now,” Tolleson said.
Tolleson believes Huynh was targeted.
“She was picked out of the crowd for whatever reason,” he said.
Family members and friends took to social media to express their love and grief.
Huynh’s friend told Channel 2 Action News that she and her family escaped Vietnam under horrible conditions to come to the United States.
She went on to graduate from Princeton University and Emory University School of Law and was an attorney with UPS at the time of her death, the news station reported.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
In a statement released Tuesday, the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association described Huynh as a former board member who “passionately lived her life, whether as a daughter, sister, friend or lawyer.
"Her loss is tragic to GAPABA, the many people whom she influenced, and the community at large. She will be greatly missed.”
Monica Modi Khant, the executive director of the Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network, called Huynh “a bright light who was deeply passionate about the immigrant community and those who needed advocacy the most.”
Huynh provided pro bono legal services to immigrants, according to Channel 2.
“Trinh was fearless and made an impact on everyone who met her with her energy, positivity and enthusiasm,” Khant said.
Atlanta Public Schools board member Matt Westmoreland said Huynh mentored him and hundreds of other former students at Grady High School on the school’s mock trial team.
“Grateful for her kindness, sarcasm, wit,” he said in a Twitter post.
Jamie Gentry did not know Huynh. However, she left flowers at a growing memorial for the woman Tuesday.
She said if the woman’s family and friends return to the site, she wants them to see “something a little bit more loving there than a sidewalk and a story that was told on the news.”
