WhatsNew2Day – Latest News And Breaking Headlines
An American comedian was kidnapped and stabbed to death by a mob in Colombia after they kidnapped him and tried to hold him for ransom while he was on a date with a woman he met on social media.
Tou Ger Xiong, 50, a Hmong activist and comedian who lived in the Twin Cities area, was killed Monday, his family said in a heartbreaking statement. He died in the infamous city of Medellín.
Authorities said a 60-foot fall contributed to Xiong’s death. ‘[It was] blunt force trauma to the head and they threw him off a bridge,” said Brother Eh Xiong. FoxMinneapolis.
His brother told local media that he last spoke to his brother on Sunday, when the activist asked him for $2,000, the same amount police said was the ransom. He said the money never got there. At least one man is in custody in connection with the heinous murder.
‘It is with immense sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the discovery of the body of our beloved family member. “Tou Ger Xiong was a beloved member of our family and the pain of losing him is indescribable,” the family statement read.
Tou Ger Xiong, 50, a Hmong activist and comedian, was found dead in Colombia on Monday after being kidnapped a day earlier while on a date.
The murder occurred here, in the city of Medellín. Xiong is the third American tourist killed in the country in the last month
Xiong’s brother told local media that the cause of death was blunt force trauma and said the gang threw him off a bridge.
Xiong was kidnapped by the gang on Sunday after meeting the woman he had been chatting with online, reports The Colombian. At some point, the gang kidnapped Xiong and demanded a $2,000 ransom from his family.
On Monday, his body was found outside an apartment building with more than a dozen stab wounds.
He arrived in Colombia and planned to stay there during the holidays.
‘We are cooperating fully with law enforcement who are working diligently to investigate this heinous crime. “We trust in their commitment to bringing those responsible to justice and implore anyone with information to come forward and help in this effort,” her family also said.
“We have full confidence that the Colombian police will find the people who did this to him and bring them to justice,” Eh said.
“Rather than mourning the loss of his life, we want to celebrate what he has done and what he could be doing to help the community move forward,” he added.
Eh said the family is working to establish a foundation in Xiong’s name.
In a separate interview with KTSP, Eh said that his brother traveled regularly to Colombia. A photo on Facebook appears to show Xiong in the country on October 20.
Three American tourists have been murdered in Colombia in the last month. Meanwhile, kidnappings have doubled across the country. The kidnapping of soccer star Luis Díaz’s father in November made headlines around the world.
‘Dear Universe, I would like to change careers, please. “I want to wake up in a new office like this and work for 3 hours from my phone and then call it a day,” Xiong wrote in the caption of this photo she posted on October 20.
Xiong was kidnapped by the gang on Sunday after meeting the woman he had been chatting with online, reports El Colombiano.
Xiong was born in Laos, his father worked with the CIA during US covert operations in the country in the early 1970s. In 1975, after the successful communist victory over the government, the family fled to Thailand, where they were sent to a refugee camp.
From there, they headed to the United States and settled in St. Paul. Xiong was valedictorian of his class at Humboldt High School. He later graduated in Political Science from Carleton College.
While in college, Xiong began acting and even created a collective Respectism Project, which brought together singers, comedians, and storytellers.
On his LinkedIn page, Xiong said he celebrated “cultural diversity through laughter.”
According to his IMDb page, Xiong appeared in a movie, in 1997. Fabric portraits, which was about the story of the struggles of a Hmong immigrant family.
In 2004, a profile from the Chicago Tribune called him “America’s only Hmong comedian.”
Xiong also became involved in other issues, such as organizing protests in the wake of Cha Vang, a Hmong hunter, murder at the hands of a white man, James Nichols, in 2007. Nichols was later convicted of second-degree murder.
He did the same in 2021, when police killed a Hmong man in California while “defending his farm” while opposing a forced evacuation during a wildfire.
Xiong would later build solidarity between the Twin Cities Hmong community and Black Lives Matter.
U.S. Sen. Tina Miller weighed in on Xiong’s murder, saying her office is working with authorities to establish the facts of the case.
‘We are cooperating fully with law enforcement who are working diligently to investigate this heinous crime. “We are confident in his commitment to bringing those responsible to justice and implore anyone with information to come forward and assist in this effort,” the Democrat’s office said.
In 2004, a Chicago Tribune profile called him “America’s only Hmong comedian.”
While the state’s other senator, former presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar, also said that her office is working with Colombian authorities and the United States Embassy.
‘This is a heartbreaking tragedy. Tou Ger was an amazing person who constantly worked to improve his community. My thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones during this difficult time,” Klobuchar said.
‘This is devastating news. My heart goes out to Tou Ger Xiong’s family and our entire Hmong community. As a comedian and activist, her work touched many lives in the Twin Cities and beyond,” said Rep. Betty McCollum in a post on X.
Among those also paying tribute to Xiong was her old friend Terri Thao, who told her Sahan Diary that the comedian was the first Hmong artist they had seen.
‘He knew how powerful the voice could be. Whatever he did, he didn’t do it just because he wanted glory or individual credit. He did it out of love for the community,” Thao said.
Xiong had been instrumental in organizing Minnesota’s first Hmong Day in 2015 at the state fair.