San Diego

A 19-year-old San Diego man was fatally wounded Monday night in an exchange of gunfire apparently involving rival Vietnamese gangs outside a City Heights pool hall, police said.

Hoang T. Nguyen, who lived with his family in the 4000 block of Central Avenue, died at Mercy Hospital at 3:29 a.m. Tuesday, a deputy coroner said. Police said he had been shot in the head.

Nguyen and others had been standing outside Bida and Cafe 75, a pool hall in the 4300 block of Home Avenue, at 10:45 p.m. Monday when a passenger in an approaching car opened fire, police spokesman Bill Robinson said. A man outside the pool hall returned fire.

Friends of Nguyen were driving him to the hospital when they were involved in a traffic accident near Winona and University avenues, Robinson said. Nguyen was taken to Mercy Hospital by ambulance; the others in the car received minor injuries.