Dengsavang found guilty of shooting Wauwatosa Police Officer

Michael S. Dengsavang found guilty.
Both accomplices, Phonisay and Rodthong previously pleaded guilty.

Officer Abby Pavlik

By H. Nelson Goodson
June 14, 2010

Milwaukee - On Monday, Michael S. Dengsavang, 28, was found guilty on all three counts of attemped first-degree intentional homicide, party to a crime of armed robbery while using force, and burglary in connection with the shooting of a Wauwatosa police officer last December. Police Officer Abby Pavlik, 28, from the City of Wauwatosa during testimony in Milwaukee County Circuit Court identified the three suspects charged in connection with an armed robbery, and attempted homicide, how she was shot by one of them. Pavlik was responding to a 911 call from the Happy Wok restaurant when she spotted Dengsavang, Paul M. Phonisay, 39, and Thongsavahn Rodthong, 27, all wearing masks and black running from the restaurant they had just robbed at gun point.
The criminal complaint states, two masked men tied up Yongjian Dong, the owner of a Wauwatosa Happy Wok restaurant, and his wife, Xiuqing Zhao, about 10:15 p.m on December 13. The men took more than $1,000 from Zhao's purse and a set of keys and then went to the couple's residence, according to their 8-year-old son who freed himself and called police.
Office Pavlik testified that one of the suspects (Dengsavang) turned towards her vehicle and began shooting at her while she was inside her squad car. Pavlik was wearing a bullet proof vest, but a bullet hit Pavlik in her abdomen.
"I heard them coming closer, I then heard and felt my window shatter, and then I felt the bullet strike me... It entered through the left side of my abdomen," Pavlik said in court.
The owner of the Happy Wok restaurant testified through an interpreter, that the three men bound him with duct tape and threatened to kill his 8-year-old son. He tearfully testified that one of the suspects who was holding the gun had threaten him "If you don't give me your money, I will kill your son," Yongjian Dong said.
Dengsavang, Phonisay, and Rodthong, were charged in Milwaukee County with attempted first-degree intentional homicide armed robbery and burglary. Both Phonisay and Rodthong previously pleaded guilty and are waiting sentencing.
Dengsavang is facing more than 60 years in prison for attempted homicide alone and is expected to appear in court on July 23, for a pre-sentencing hearing.