ROSTRAVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — After details were kept secret for nearly a year, people in Rostraver are surprised to hear a fatal shooting in a local shopping plaza was an alleged murder-for-hire plot.
“I was quite shocked,” said Sydney Skivo. “I mean, there’s nothing that crazy that goes on around here so it was quite shocking to hear that this would happen around this area.”
According to court documents, Keven Van Lam hired a man identified as “Tuan” to “take care” of his business partner, 49-year-old Boyke Budiarachman.
>>> Arrest made in Rostraver shopping plaza shooting that left 1 dead
Police say Van Lam believed his partner was sabotaging his business.
The two went to dinner at Samurai Japanese Cuisine in Rostraver, and that’s when police say Van Lam texted the alleged hitman, who was posing as a parking lot attendant - letting him know when they arrived and when they were leaving.
That’s when Budiarachman was shot and killed. Court documents say surveillance video shows an unknown masked person shooting the victim as he was getting into his car.
Police then say Van Lam drove to Philadelphia with a duffle bag stuffed with $65,000 in cash and left it in a planned location for the alleged hitman to pick up.
Police say Van Lam confessed to this, saying he wanted Budiarachman to be hit in the legs with a baseball bat and then said the plot changed to shoot him.
His attorney David Shrager said Van Lam didn’t understand everything being asked during that recorded confession.
“He has very broken English, and I think anyone watching that would hear him say more than once, “I understand about 60%,’” Shrager said.
The defense team argues Van Lam never intended for Budiarachman to be killed.
“At no point in time did my client or anyone else state that they were hiring someone to commit murder, or that they wanted murder, or that murder was supposed to happen,” Shrager said. “And there’s nothing, and there’s not a scintilla of evidence for that.”
The magistrate judge held all of the charges against Van Lam, and this case will head to trial. The alleged hitman has not been identified.
We’ll continue to follow this case as it works through the court system.
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