Man Killed on Romania Trip, O.C. Kin Fear

A 21-year-old man who fled his native Romania for Orange County four years ago but returned last week with a brother to visit his girlfriend and bring medical supplies for friends and relatives was reportedly shot to death, his family said Monday.

On a grim Christmas Day, the family of Ionel (John) Antimie waited anxiously at their home in Fullerton for further word from friends or family members in Romania, where continued fighting made communication difficult if not impossible.

But they already believe the worst.

“He is gone,” said one cousin who joined about a dozen other relatives at Antimie’s house yesterday after hearing the report. “All that is left are the pictures.”

State Department spokesman Philip Covington said U.S. officials cannot confirm Antimie’s death and that they are trying to find out what happened.

“We’re taking the report very seriously,” Covington said. “We’re looking into it.”

John Antimie helped run a family construction business in Fullerton with his father, Ion, and several brothers, among them Constantine, 32, who traveled to Romania with him. John was a four-year resident of the city but not yet a U.S. citizen.

No U.S. citizens have been reported killed in the recent spate of violence that has accompanied the overthrow of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The U.S. government does not track injuries to or deaths of American residents who are not citizens.

“The welfare and safety of U.S. citizens is our highest priority,” said a State Department official who requested anonymity. The whereabouts of a U.S. resident such as Antimie, the official said, “would be a little bit lower on our priority list.”

Antimie family members said they are convinced that John was gunned down by Ceausescu security forces. Their belief, they said, is based on a phone call they received Sunday from a Romanian friend who had been in touch with Constantine.

The two brothers left Orange County nine days ago, before public reports of the massacre of protesters by Ceausescu forces and the subsequent outbreak of some of Europe’s worst urban warfare since World War II. John Antimie had been planning to visit his girlfriend, Angelica Hij, 16, a resident of the city of Cluj.

But as the chaos erupted in Romania, the brothers changed their plans, family members said. As they waited in Germany, the two gathered food and medical supplies--”thousands of dollars” worth, according to their father, who spoke with them before they left Germany. Then they entered Romania, apparently from Yugoslavia, with plans to offer what assistance they could to friends and relatives.

The men’s father said he was worried about his sons’ entering Romania after the outbreak of violence, but “I accepted it because the people needed food and medicine.”

The family said they believe that John and Constantine were driving to Cluj over the weekend when their rental car was ordered to stop by security forces still loyal to Ceausescu. They believe, they said, that the uniformed police shot John but that Constantine was able to jump from the car and flee into the forest.

Constantine reportedly told friends in Portland, who were able to get a call through to Romania, that he returned to the site of the shooting with friends and retrieved his brother’s body.

“This is some Christmas present,” said James Ovi of Riverside, a brother-in-law of John Antimie.

Ion Antimie, who also lives in Fullerton, said that this Christmas, already soured by the reports of widespread bloodshed in his homeland, was “the worst and the most sorrowful day of my life.”

“The Communists,” the father said with sadness and disgust and near tears, “they killed my son. . . . No one can get him back now. What I would like is that personally President Bush should intend to help the people of Romania in the terrible sorrow they now have.”