A man from Virginia, who shot his girlfriend and then repeatedly lied about the incident upon taking her to a hospital, will remain incarcerated for the foreseeable future.

Huy “Max” Nguyen, aged 47, has been found guilty of second-degree murder for the death of 38-year-old Alison “Kate” Laporta, alongside charges for using a firearm during a felony. This was reported by local media at a Fairfax County courthouse, including the CBS affiliate WUSA.

Nguyen and Laporta had been in a relationship for roughly a year when, on the evening of April 17, 2024, Laporta sustained a gunshot wound to her upper body. Nguyen transported her to Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, where he encountered Fairfax County Police Department officers.

Laporta was subsequently transferred to another hospital, the police department announced, where she was pronounced dead.

Footage from police body cameras, acquired by Washington, D.C., NBC affiliate WRC, captures Nguyen lifting his hands in the air and being frisked for weapons when officers approached him at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital.

As previously covered by Law&Crime, Nguyen claimed both he and Laporta were in a parking lot in nearby Annandale when she was struck by a stray bullet. However, “detectives disproved that allegation.”

The investigation continued, and detectives “determined Nguyen shot LaPorta” inside the vehicle he used to bring her to the hospital. The gun used to shoot and kill her was found near Nguyen”s home, the police department added.

But this was last spring. As the months went on — and his jury trial got underway this year — the since-convicted man’s story changed. He reportedly claimed Laporta tried to shoot at him and then died because she shot herself. His defense team even introduced hundreds of pages of medical records from 2022 when Laporta allegedly had a mental health crisis and was admitted to a hospital.

Prosecutors worked to dispute this telling of events. They called men to the witness stand who were reportedly with the couple at a pool hall on the day of her death.

“The only way this argument ends is with a bullet,” one witness allegedly recalled Nguyen as saying that day.

“I’m going to shoot this girl,” the condemned man reportedly added.

Left: Huy Nguyen (Fairfax County Police Department). Right: Alison “Kate” Laporta (Brinsfield Funeral Home & Crematory).

Four bullet casings are said to have been recovered from the driver’s side of the SUV in which Laporta was shot. One casing was also found in her purse, as well as one in the SUV’s back seat.

Authorities were pleased with the conviction but upset that such a case even had to be heard.

“Evidence presented at trial, including the trajectory of the bullet and a photo of the firearm’s imprint on Kate’s seatbelt, showed that Mr. Nguyen was the one who pulled the trigger while they were both seated in Kate’s car,” the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

“Kate should still be with us today,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said in the statement, per WRC. “Max Nguyen’s needless actions stole a daughter from her parents and a mother from her children. I’m relieved that his attempts to lie about what happened to Kate did not allow him to escape accountability. I hope that this conviction can bring some measure of closure to Kate’s family.”

The victim’s father reportedly took a somber tone after the verdict was read.

“That didn’t heal anything, you know. He’s going to jail, but I still don’t have my daughter,” he told WRC. “She was a mom of two … she was close to her grandmother, she loved her kids, she loved her friends, she loved herself. She wanted to be here on earth.”

Prosecutors are said to have counted more than 400 lies that Nguyen told during the investigation into his girlfriend’s death.

Nguyen is scheduled to be sentenced in February. He faces up to 40 years for the second-degree murder charge, according to Virginia law.