Woman Killed Near Koreatown Is 3rd Victim in Month

A 26-year-old woman was shot to death early Friday and two male friends were seriously wounded during an attempted robbery near Koreatown, police said.

Detectives said the shooting may be linked to a string of robberies that occurred in the area. Beginning at 9 p.m. Thursday, nine robberies were committed in which money and property were stolen, police said.

At least two other women have been killed in the last month during robberies in the area.

Elida Aubin and three friends were returning to her home in the 700 block of South Manhattan Place shortly before 2:30 a.m. when they were approached by four or five male suspects, police said.

As the group was about to enter the residence, the suspects apparently tried to rob them, said Detective Frank Bishop of the Wilshire Division.

“There was a struggle and shots were fired,” Bishop said. “This is a robbery that turned sour. They resisted so they were shot.”

Aubin was pronounced dead at the scene.

Detectives initially speculated that the string of robberies was committed by one group of about five males. But police later said the crimes were probably the work of a few different groups working at the same time.

The two male victims in Friday’s shooting suffered multiple gunshot wounds, Bishop said. Both were in critical but stable condition.

Another woman who accompanied the group escaped without injury, detectives said.

Neighbors were awakened by the cries of one of the wounded men.

“He was screaming, ‘Help me! Somebody help me!’ ” said Richard Hoag, manager of the apartment building. “He was trying to get help for (Aubin). She was lying on the steps leading up to the building.”

Hoag said Aubin had lived in the building for three years.

“She was very buoyant, full of life,” he said. “She had lots of friends.”

Aubin had been a victim of crime before, friends said. Two years ago she was robbed in front of her apartment building and last year she interrupted a robber who had tried to enter the bedroom of her second-story apartment through a fire escape.

“Only yesterday she was saying she was looking for another apartment,” said a friend, Ligia Ramirez. “She talked about moving to another area. It’s just such a shock.”

The shooting occurred near Koreatown in a residential neighborhood lined with apartment buildings.

“There’s a high rate of (street) robberies in this area,” Bishop said.

Happy Seo, 26, was shot and killed on Jan. 21 in the underground garage of her apartment building at 4th and Ardmore streets. “She was on her way to church,” Detective Jim Fountain said.

The Korean community is offering a $10,000 reward for information in that case.

On Feb. 10, Ann Yao, 31, was shot and killed near Wilshire and Lucerne boulevards as she sat in her car with a friend. Police said two men approached the car, demanded the couple’s belongings, shot them and fled in the friend’s car.