A Method to Their Mourning

Family and friends of a 23-year-old Costa Mesa man fatally shot while driving in Garden Grove held a candlelight vigil Friday evening at the place he died in an effort to encourage witnesses to come forward to police.

More than 50 people who knew Abdul Rahman Kadhar gathered on the lawn of the Garden Park Care Center, 12681 Haster St., where his car crashed into a sign pole about 4 a.m. Sun- day.

They later distributed fliers in the neighborhood.

Police said Kadhar was northbound on Haster Street after an early breakfast with friends when several shots were fired at his 2002 Nissan Altima. A bullet lodged in Kadhar’s neck. Police have no motive for the shooting.

“This was not a guy who ever got in trouble,” said Ghada Hamza, Kadhar’s best friend and organizer of the vigil. “If you know something, please tell the police.”

Kadhar was remembered by friends, family and co-workers as a happy, reliable person who reached out to people in need. A junior transfer philosophy major in his first year at UC Irvine, his goal was to become a teacher.

Kadhar’s mother and five older siblings -- three brothers and two sisters -- left Ho Chi Minh City in 1980 to join his father, a former South Vietnamese officer, in the United States. Born William Ngo, Kadhar changed his name when he converted to Islam five years ago.

“He was a very, very good boy. He used to go home and cook for Mommy,” said his mother, who declined to be identified by name because she was afraid that whoever killed her son could harm her.

Kadhar worked in admissions at UC Irvine Medical Center’s orthopedic department and volunteered as a tutor at the county’s Juvenile Hall.

Kadhar loved the experience, said Hamza, because “he thought he could help the kids in this place.”

Supervisors at the medical center said patients were highly complimentary of Kadhar, who greeted everyone with a smile and made sure to walk patients and fellow employees to their cars as a safety precaution.

“He was a model of what a human being should be. We could have all taken lessons from him,” said Peggy Jenkins, who worked with Kadhar.

He graduated from University High School in Irvine in 1999 and studied at Orange Coast College full time, while working the night shift in admissions at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, before transferring to UC Irvine.

Public services will be held Monday at 1 p.m. at the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove. Burial will follow at 1:45 p.m. at Westminster Memorial Park Islamic Gardens.

Anyone with information about the killing is encouraged to call the Garden Grove police at (714) 741-5003.