Visiting Taiwan Man Slain While Watching Television

It was to have been a vacation worth remembering, but for Lin Chin-chuan, who arrived in Los Angeles from Taiwan three weeks ago to visit his pregnant daughter, it ended in a deadly spray of gunfire at the daughter’s Harbor City apartment.

Police said it most likely was a case of mistaken identity.

Lin, 58 and a resident of Taipei, died Tuesday at UCLA-Harbor Medical Center as the result of a shooting late Monday in which a bullet pierced a window of the apartment, in the 1300 block of West 218th Street, striking him in the head as he sat on a sofa watching television, police said.

“It looks as if it could have been a gang-related shooting where the killer may have just shot into the wrong address,” said Detective Larry Kallestad of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police had no suspects Tuesday and apparently there were no witnesses.

Investigators said they believe the shooting may have been in retaliation for the wounding of a gang member during an exchange of gunfire between rival gangs several blocks away earlier Monday.

“When you see innocent people die this way, it just underscores the futility of the whole gang retaliation thing,” Kallestad said. “The only thing this gentleman was doing was watching TV.”

Investigators said that six shots--from both a handgun and a shotgun--were fired into the apartment at 10:45 p.m. from about 25 feet away. Police said that two or three gunmen may have been involved. Lin was struck by one of three bullets from a handgun that pierced the window, police said. None of the other occupants of the apartment were injured.

“It’s apparent that whoever did it just walked up to the front of the building and opened fire. The curtains were drawn. They couldn’t have seen who they were aiming at,” Detective Steve Strong said.

The apartment faces a small courtyard, well off the street.

The victim’s wife, who also was visiting from Taiwan, and their daughter and son-in-law were asleep in the bedroom of the one-bedroom apartment when the shooting occurred, investigators said.

None of the other family members were available for comment Tuesday.

However, neighbors and police said that Lin and his wife had timed their visit in order to be with their daughter during her pregnancy. Relatives told police that for several days, Lin had practiced the drive to nearby UCLA-Harbor Medical Center in anticipation of his grandchild being born.