MONTEREY PARK >> Detectives on Tuesday asked for the public’s help in identifying the man who shot and killed an Alhambra motel manager and mother of two during a June 2 attempted robbery.

Authorities announced a $20,000 reward for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of the man who killed 44-year-old Xiuxia “Michelle” Chen of Alhambra.

Money from the reward comes from the city of Alhambra and from Prime Time Shuttle, which is the employer of Chen’s husband, Armando Escandor.

“It’s like I said before: All I want is justice for my loving wife,” Escandor said at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau office in Monterey Park.

Investigators are also looking for a woman who walked by the would-be robber at the Ambassador Inn in Alhambra and heard the shooting. They released two surveillance videos, hoping the public could put a name to both culprit and witness.

The robber fled empty-handed.

While Escandor was speaking about his wife, he stopped, composed himself, then said he wanted his son to talk about it.

Armando Escandor Jr., who is in the U.S. Navy, said his parents met in Saigon and married in 1994.

Many motel customers told him his mother went out of her way to be helpful, according to Armando Escandor Jr. He said she was proud to work at the motel at 2720 Valley Blvd.

He asked for help in finding the man who killed his mother. He also had a message for the suspect: “Why did you have to go too far?”

He said the suspect took an amazing woman from this world. “My mother did not deserve this.”

Detectives believe the shooting was a random act. Sheriff’s Homicide Capt. Christopher Bergner called the shooting a senseless crime.

“She cooperated. It happened so quickly,” Bergner said. “Nothing was taken.”

Chen was working the night shift at the Ambassador Inn on June 2 when a man entered the motel just before 11 p.m.

A surveillance video with audio captured the attempted robbery. Wearing what looks like a dark hooded sweatshirt, the suspect walked up to the counter, demanded money and pointed a gun at Chen. He also held out a plastic bag toward her.

“Money. Money now,” the man said.

Chen told him she didn’t have money and opened a desk drawer.

“You can see I don’t have money,” she said.

He kept demanding money. He asked Chen if she thought he was playing and threatened her.

“Do you want to die? Do you want to die?,” he said.

The video snippet released by detectives doesn’t show the shooting. The motel’s owner found the wounded Chen and called police. She died at the scene.

Another video shows the witness, an Asian woman wearing an orange jacket, as she walked out of the motel. She passed by the suspect as he headed toward the door. She stopped then walked away. The camera later showed the suspect running out of the motel.

Detective Gary Sloan said the woman actually stopped a second time, likely when she heard the gunshot.

He believes the witness was staying at the motel. Sloan said the woman was in the little dining area in the lobby earlier, used the bathroom, talked to Chen, then left the motel.

“We want to sit down and speak with the woman,” Sloan said.

Armando Escandor said in a June interview that Chen worked at the motel for six years. She had been manager the past two years. He usually picked her up after her shift around 11:30 p.m. When he arrived that night, he saw police swarming the motel and crime scene tape around part of the motel office. He went inside and saw his wife’s body.

The couple have a son and a daughter.

Detectives described the suspect as a man with a medium build who stands between 5 feet 6 inches and 6 feet tall. He wore dark clothing, a dark hooded sweatshirt and one dark-colored glove.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.