Man Shot by Merchant in Fear of Robber : Racial tension: Police say the Korean-born liquor store owner thought he was being held up when he fired at a black man who was fleeing a drive-by shooting.

Gang violence on the streets of South-Central Los Angeles spilled into a liquor store Thursday night when a merchant shot a man who had run into the store seeking refuge from a drive-by shooting.

While authorities characterized it as another sign of increasing inner-city violence, the shooting--which involved a Korean-born merchant and a black man--comes at a time when racial tension has been escalating. Both police and Korean-American community leaders said they feared the incident might upset already delicate race relations.

“It was a mistake on the part of the owner,” said Police Lt. Bruce Hagerty. “He was under the full belief that his store was being robbed. . . . Even the victim in this case told the police later that it was a mistake and that the owner believed he was in danger.”

But by Friday afternoon, Brotherhood Crusade leader Danny Bakewell, who recently led a boycott against a liquor store where a Korean-born merchant shot and killed a black man, had already met with police to discuss the matter. He said afterward that it was “horrible, terrible,” and vowed to press for the store owner to be prosecuted.

Bakewell also linked the shooting to the controversial decision by Superior Court Judge Joyce A. Karlin to sentence a Korean-born grocer to probation in the killing of a 15-year-old black girl.

“This shooting, in our opinion, is an extension of Judge Karlin’s decision,” Bakewell said. “There are merchants operating in our community who see a gang member, or a life that is not worth valuing, behind the face of every black man, woman and child who goes into his store. . . . They don’t see hard-working men and women. They see criminals, and they are reinforced by the attitude of Judge Karlin.”

Councilwoman Rita Walters, one of the city’s three black council members, said the shooting underscored the need for blacks and Korean-Americans to understand each other better.

“I wonder if a group of Anglos had run in the store seeking shelter if it would have provoked the same kind of response,” Walters said. “It certainly points up the need for a continued dialogue. . . . I would just hope that people would recognize that there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of bridging the gaps between the community to the merchants.”

Meanwhile, Korean-American leaders--who were nervous about the repercussions the shooting might have--also met with police, according to Charles Park, chairman of the Koreatown Crime Task Force. Park said the group asked authorities to issue a “fair and objective statement” in an effort to keep “radical groups” from using the incident to “play the emotions” of black residents.

According to Park, 15 Korean-born merchants have been killed in the Los Angeles area in the past 18 months. He complained that the press has paid little attention to those deaths, and has focused instead on several incidents in which merchants have been the aggressors rather than the victims.

“This is such unfortunate timing,” he said. “I hope that this doesn’t fuel the tension. But from the standpoint of the Korean merchant, I think it is very understandable. This store has probably been robbed a couple of times, and there are shootings involved, and he already has a fear of being robbed again. . . . Fortunately, it is not fatal.”

The wounded man, whose name police would not release, was in stable condition Friday at County-USC Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the midsection.

The incident began with the drive-by shooting, which occurred shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday near the Century Liquor Market, at 54th Street and Arlington Avenue. According to police, a group in a black or blue sports car fired several shotgun rounds into a crowd, wounding two men and a woman.

Police said liquor store owner Haeng Kim was in the bathroom in the back of his shop when he heard gunfire outside. Within seconds, a crowd had rushed into Kim’s store. Believing he was about to be robbed, police said, Kim grabbed a .357-caliber handgun.

“There was quite a commotion inside the liquor store because these people were scared, they knocked down things,” Hagerty said. “It was dimly lit at best. The owner heard the gunshots, heard the screams and the commotion. He armed himself and when he stepped out of the bathroom he was presented with five to six people running toward him and he fired, believing that he was in some danger.”

The store owner was not arrested. Hagerty said that detectives were still investigating on Friday, and that police hope to present evidence Monday to the district attorney’s office, which will decide whether to prosecute.