Fatal Shooting Sparks Fear of Racial Confrontation : Violence: Asians, blacks meet with police after youth allegedly stealing beer is shot to death by two Laotian employees of liquor store.

In the wake of a fatal shooting at a Long Beach liquor store, Asian and black leaders met with police Wednesday in hopes of heading off racial confrontations.

Leaders from both minority groups said they were worried that violence could break out after two Laotian store employees shot to death an unarmed black youth who allegedly was stealing two bottles of beer and a bag of candy Monday night.

One of the employees, Benson Hieng, 52, told police he pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Lester Nichols after the 16-year-old struck Hieng’s son, Peter, with his fist. At the time, Nichols was attempting to walk off with two 40-ounce bottles of beer and a bag of Snickers candy bars, according to Long Beach police.

“I (thought) my son would die. I defend him. I shoot (Nichols),” Hieng, a clerk at the store at 7th Street and Rose Avenue, said in an interview.

The teen-ager, shot once, then ran toward Benson Hieng and struck him also, police said. The elder Hieng shot Nichols again. Peter Hieng, the store’s manager, saw the youth lunge toward his father and, fearing for the older man’s life, took a pistol from under the counter and also shot Nichols, according to Police Lt. Steve McAndrew.

Nichols ran with a friend to a waiting car. He was driven to St. Mary Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Police arrested Nichols’ two companions Monday night, a 17-year-old from San Pedro and Alfredo Sanchez, 19, also of San Pedro. The district attorney’s office is reviewing a store videotape of the confrontation while deciding whether to file charges against the Hiengs.

Nichols’ family members said they want the Hiengs charged with murder. “I don’t believe he was trying to steal. And even if he did, that’s no reason to kill him,” said Darlene Davis, Nichols’ aunt. “That was murder. He lost his life over two bottles of beer.”

In meeting with Police Chief Lawrence Binkley, minority group leaders discussed ideas to improve relations between the city’s ethnic groups, including a proposal for a police-sponsored seminar on use of force for other merchants, said Charles Townsend, president of the Long Beach chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.