2 Shot in Jewel Heist at Swap Meet

Five gunmen armed with automatic and semiautomatic weapons invaded an indoor swap meet in South Los Angeles on Monday, wounding two people in a burst of gunfire and escaping with gold jewelry scooped from smashed display cases, police said.

The gunmen, wearing black ski masks, sped away in a minivan stolen in Hollywood earlier and recovered about two blocks from the robbery scene, Southwest Division Detective Lt. Alan Kerstein said. As the robbers fled, they apparently panicked and left much of the loot behind. The swap meet manager, Han Sik Park, 39, was struck by gunfire and reported in stable but critical condition after undergoing surgery at County-USC Medical Center. Park’s secretary, Sonia Kim, 36, was treated for a minor leg wound and released.

The robbers got by the guards inside the King Swap Meet, 4100 S. Vermont Ave., shortly after 10 a.m., smashed the glass cases of three jewelry stalls and were scooping up a large quantity of jewelry when Park came out of his office, Kerstein said.

One bandit, armed with a semiautomatic handgun, spotted the manager and fired a shot, hitting Park, Kerstein said. As Park stumbled back toward his office, the assailant followed, firing several shots.

The gunmen abandoned the van at 43rd Street and Menlo Avenue, and drove away in two other vehicles, police said.

Through it all, Kerstein said, the heavily armed robbers said almost nothing other than an initial command to “Get down on the floor!”

After treatment, the secretary, Kim, returned to the swap meet store and talked about the incident. She said she was inside the office when she heard her boss yell: “Sonia, close the door and call the police!”

Kim said: “I started to go out to see what was happening, and I saw one man push through the outer office door. When he saw me, he fired.”

She slammed the inside door and another shot came through it, she said. Then, she locked the door and called police.

One of the robbed vendors, Hee Soo Kim, 35, owner of Crown Jewelry, estimated that the robbers grabbed $70,000 to $80,000 of diamonds, gold necklaces, bracelets and charms.

Yung Han Yoon, 46, owner of New Star Jewelry, said he and his wife, Ki Yun, 41, hid inside the bottom of their jewelry cases when they heard the intruders breaking glass at a nearby booth. Moments after they crawled inside, he said, they heard the glass breaking above them.

Yoon estimated that he lost $25,000 of 10-karat and 14-karat gold ropes, necklaces, bracelets, rings and charms.

The owner of the swap meet store, Soon Chang, said Monday’s armed robbery is the first in the six years since he opened. He said 46 vendors operate out of the store. He estimated that there were about 145 people in the store when the robbers burst in and held the security guards at gunpoint.