November 2013
Koreatown resident Randall Kreeger is found dead in an East Hollywood dumpster.
August 2013
LAPD shoot dead a man who allegedly fired upon officers on Pico near Mariposa, just south of Koreatown proper.
July 2013
Juan Diaz Chavez, a Marine veteran and avid police supporter working as a security guard, is shot dead by LAPD outside a church in the 1800 block of West Pico Boulevard in Pico-Union, just southeast of Koreatown. His assailants have been identified as gang-enforcement officers Fernando Flores and Alfredo Aguay who were not in uniform during the encounter.
April 27, 2013
A 90-year-old male Korean bike rider is struck and killed in a hit-and-run on Virgil & 6th, just east of Koreatown proper, at around 5:10 am. The victim has been identified as Joo Yoon. The suspect has not been identified.
April 17, 2013
Kallen Mahone is shot dead at approximately 1:15 a.m. in the 800 block of S. Gramercy Drive, near 8th Street. Mahone was approached by a man who pulled out a gun and shot him multiple times. Oriiginally from Kansas, Mahone moved to Koreatown within the last year and resided in an apartment near the location where the shooting occurred. No suspect has been identified.
April 5, 2013
Mark Thomas Couturier dies after being tasered by LAPD officers on the 400 block of North Vermont Avenue in North Koreatown. His assailants, from Central Division, have not been identified.
March 19, 2013
Cornelius Rich, a 62-year-old black man, was found murdered in the 500 block of Kingsley Drive. Also known as Andre Dupree, he died from blunt-force trauma in his apartment.
March 17, 2013
Koreatown visitor Kim Nguyen is picked up for public intoxication at 6th & Serrano and then brutalized by the LAPD in an incident that was reported as her jumping or falling out of the police vehicle. The arresting officers have been identified as David E. Shin and Jin-Seok Oh of Olympic Division.
February 2013
Tammy Kim, a resident of Koreatown-adjacent Westlake, files suit against the LAPD for sexual battery. Three other women have come forward with similar allegations of sex under duress against the same officers — originally part of Hollywood Division’s narcotics unit, Luis Valenzuela was reassigned to Koreatown’s Olympic Division, while James Nichols was transferred to Northeast Division, covering Echo Park.
Jim Nichols is also notoriously known as the LAPD officer who beat bank executive Brian Mulligan in a separate incident.
December 2012
Erin Pak, whose husband is the political fundraiser Chris Pak, is appointed by Herb Wesson to the city’s Ethics Commission with her own husband’s business interests under her purview. Locally known as the CEO of the non-profit KHEIR health organization in Koreatown, she had been receiving between $150,000 and $180,000 a year in compensation.
November 2012
Workplace shooting at 3440 Wilshire Boulevard. Ji-Tae Kim, who had repeatedly been seeking payment of a commission from Venture Commercial Realty, had just had a verbal argument with Victor Cho, owner of the firm located in Suite 480 of the building, when the former shot the latter, resulting in Cho suffering gunshot wounds to the head and losing consciousness. Cho later died at the hospital.
October 26, 2012
LAPD’s Olympic Division delays the monthly Critical Mass bike ride for the first time ever in order to allow the convicted felon Alexandria Thompson to take photos. She had been invited by Wilshire Center to establish a franchise in Koreatown and had carried on with the active support of senior lead officers including Gordon Helper.
October 2012
Murder suicide at 515 St. Andrews Place. The bodies of a male, a female, and a dog were found decomposing inside an apartment in the building. The male had shot the female and the dog before turning the gun on himself.
October 13, 2012
Ricky Alton Sagoes, a 53-year-old black male, dies after sustaining blunt force trauma in the area of 6th & Vermont.
September 2012
City Council President Herb Wesson’s son is arrested in downtown L.A. for drunk driving. Justin Wesson, 30, was hired by the city in July 2011 and earns $54,434 annually working for his father, who represents neighborhoods stretching from Koreatown to the Crenshaw Boulevard corridor.
August 4, 2012
Vadim Kogan, a 48-year-old white man, dies three days after being beaten in the 4300 block of West 3rd Street by an unidentified male.
May 2012
A bike rider is shot dead on the corner of New Hampshire and San Marino Streets at around 1:30 p.m.
April 2012
Sam Michel, 25, was repeatedly stabbed in the back until he died, after letting his eventual murderer into his apartment at 814 S. Serrano Street 2:00 in the morning.
February 2012
Carjacking suspect Shonchy Thaopraseuth, 22, of San Bernardino, is killed by a barrage of more than 60 police bullets at the gas station on Wilshire & Vermont.
October 2011
Ricardo Lopez, a 23-year-old Latino, was shot and killed in the 700 block of South Berendo Street in the early hours of the morning.
August 2011
CC Diamonds inside Wilshire Galleria is robbed with the parking-lot attendant ending up bludgeoned in the head with a hammer by one of the suspects. A carjacking was then subsequently attempted on a BMW with a female driver, who managed to drive away despite her windshield being smashed.
July 2011
Convicted felon Alexandria Thompson is invited by Wilshire Center Business Improvement Corporation’s Michael P. Russell (WCKNC, like the corrupt Samuel In) to set up operations in Koreatown. Her franchise has been openly supported by LAPD senior lead officers, particularly Gordon Helper and Joseph Pelayo, both of whom have been the subject of lawsuits.
May 28, 2011
Joshua Santos, a 19-year-old Latino, dies being stabbed during a fight in the 100 block of North Mariposa Avenue.
May 2011
A million-dollar robbery occurs inside Koreatown Plaza involving two young men armed with guns.
February 2011
The iconic Gaju Market on 5th & Western closes after 30 years.
November 2010
An 81-year-old woman was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver while crossing the street at around 2:30 a.m. at Olympic and Harvard. The victim has been identified as Gae-Sum Park.
July 2010
Murder-suicide involving a 51-year-old Korean man and his landlord.
March 2010
Autistic black man Steven Washington is murdered in the 800 block of Vermont Avenue by the LAPD. He was unarmed and not a gang member.
August 2009
Ching Tseng, a 35-year-old Asian man, was shot and robbed in the 3300 block of West 6th Street and died later at the hospital. He had been approached by a man described as a Latino in his mid-20s. at about 6 a.m. The suspect demanded Tseng’s money and vehicle, then shot Tseng and fled to a waiting car with three additional suspects, two males and one female.
June 2009
A customer is shot dead by another customer right outside M2 Karaoke Bar on 6th Street, two blocks west of Western Avenue. Louis Lee, 22, of Rowland Heights, shot and killed Michael Kim at 2:30 a.m. Lee was arrested a few hours later.
January 2010
Bennett Bradley, a director and producer at East Hollywood’s Fountain Theater, is stabbed to death by his lover Jose Fructuoso inside their Koreatown apartment. Fructuoso said he and Bradley had a sexual relationship going back around nine years, to when Fructuoso was 16 years old. The conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in April 2013.
November 2008
Unarmed black man Dontaze Storey, 29 years old, is killed by two LAPD officers on the northwest corner of 3rd & New Hampshire. He was hit by bullets in his leg, chest, and mouth as his pregnant fiancée and neighbors helplessly watched.
“We need to stop the murder of residents by the Police. The only way we will do so is by organizing, changing laws, and giving the community more control over law enforcement,” stated Atum Re Baker, Dontaze’s uncle. “It’s not about hating the police, it’s about ending the murder of unarmed people.”
October 2008
Homeless man John Robert McGraham is doused with gasoline and burned to death on 3rd & Berendo by Ben Martin, an employee at a nearby barbership.
May 2007
Korean love-triangle ends in a murder suicide at Suhrabal Korean BBQ Restaurant at 100 S. Western Avenue.
March 2006
Herb Wesson denies any role in securing a $30,000 contract for his son from the Committee for a Better California. In 2005, during his first run for City Council, Wesson’s campaign committee also paid another son $10,333 for consulting work and his wife received $3,940 for holding a fundraiser and producing campaign mail.
July 2005
The Koreatown Rapist is arrested. Tyreese Lamar Reed, 29, was believed to be responsible for thirteen sexual assaults and related robberies in Koreatown, Beverly Hills and Glendale from Aug. 26, 2004, to June 15, 2005. All of the victims, who ranged in age from 17 to 55, were Asian. Eleven were of Korean descent.
February 2003
Mysterious homicide of a female Korean in the 1200 block of Fedora Street. The suspect was arrested and identified as Sung-Yeol Yoon.