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Steven Luong Tang, 26

Steven Luong Tang, a 26-year-old Asian man, was shot and killed Thursday, Nov. 23, in the 14200 block of Gager Street in Arleta, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records. 

Tang had been released from prison two weeks earlier and was visiting his mother for Thanksgiving, said LAPD Valley Homicide Det. David Peteque. 

He and his family had eaten Thanksgiving dinner at a relative’s home in Whittier and had returned to his mother’s home around 8 p.m., Peteque said. While his mother and another family member were in one part of the house, Tang went to the rear of the house around 8:15 p.m., where he was confronted by someone, Peteque said. 

“Some kind of altercation occurred in the back bedroom, and he was shot,” Peteque said. “There was no sign of forced entry, and we have no idea how the suspect got into the house, if he was welcomed or walked in a door.”

Tang was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:33 p.m., according to coroner’s records.

Investigators think Tang was targeted, Peteque said, but they don’t have a motive or a description of the shooter. 

Tang was arrested when he was 16 and convicted of the attempted murder of a police officer in a shooting in the Mission area in 2007, Peteque said. 

The officer was not injured, Peteque said, but Tang was sentenced to prison as an adult. After his release, he was living in a halfway house in the San Fernando Valley, Peteque said. 

Investigators don’t know whether the shooting was related to Tang’s prison stay, Peteque said. “That’s the million-dollar question right now,” he said, “but obviously we’re looking at everything.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Peteque at (818) 374-1934. Those wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.  

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

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