Youth Pleads Not Guilty in Slayings of 3

A 17-year-old high school student pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges he used a hammer to kill two teen-age brothers and their grandmother in their Temple City home last week during a dispute over football equipment.

Tony Kim, dressed in a T-shirt and dungarees, stood silently at his arraignment in Pasadena Juvenile Court as Judge Eric E. Younger read the charges. Kim’s attorney, Public Defender Steven Edward Kaplan, entered the not-guilty plea for his client and a hearing was set for Sept. 17 to determine whether the Temple City High School student will be charged as an adult or a juvenile. Younger scheduled Sept. 19 as a trial date if Kim is tried as a juvenile.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mitchel J. Harris said he will ask to have Kim tried as an adult because of the seriousness of the charges. Meanwhile, Kim was ordered held without bail at Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles.

Harris said in an interview that Kim had been feuding over some football pads he had loaned to his friend and schoolmate Jae Whan (Peter) Chung, 17. A confrontation arose when he went to Chung’s house last Thursday morning to recover them, Harris said.

“It escalated and he took a hammer to his (Chung’s) head,” Harris said, adding that Kim then killed Chung’s grandmother, Boc Sil Kim, 58, and Chung’s 14-year-old brother, Jae Hung (John) Chung. Their bodies were discovered late Thursday evening by the boys’ parents.

Arrested Friday

Kim was arrested at his home early Friday and held on suspicion of murder after a witness reported seeing a blue van owned by Kim’s father parked near the Chung residence for several hours, Sheriff’s Detective Bill Gaynor said.

Harris said investigators still are looking for the murder weapon and other evidence, but added that no other suspect is being sought.