Robbers Kill Shop Owner as Family Sleeps Nearby

The owner of a Wilmington doughnut shop was fatally wounded during an apparent robbery attempt that took place while his wife and 19-year-old son were sleeping in the back of the store.

Kim Hour Ham, a 50-year-old Cambodian immigrant who purchased Larry’s Donut Shop just eight months ago, was shot once in the head by one of two men who entered his business at 10:10 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

He died Thursday morning at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

The gunfire awakened Ham’s wife and son, who ran to the front of the shop at 550 W. Pacific Coast Highway. They discovered Ham lying face down on the floor and spotted the two men, described as being in their 20s, fleeing in a pickup truck.

Police said they have no suspects in the shooting.

Detective Rudy Lemos said the Ham family lives in Long Beach but stays overnight in the 24-hour doughnut shop, taking turns sleeping and running the store. No family members could be reached Thursday, and the doughnut shop was closed.

Lemos said police are not certain if any money was taken from the shop Wednesday night. But, he added, the case is classified as a robbery attempt because a witness spotted one of the assailants fiddling with the cash register.

“At this point, we don’t have any evidence of anybody taking anything,” Lemos said.

The witness, an employee of the Chevron gas station across the street from the doughnut shop, said he was closing up when the shooting occurred.

“I seen a man in a blue pullover sweat shirt with a hood over his head in front of the register, looking like he was doing something to the register,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday. “Then I went into the office, and that’s when I heard the shot. And when I looked back over there, the guy wasn’t there.”

He said Ham’s son, Thearenn, rushed over to the gas station and asked him to call the police, saying, “My dad’s been shot.”