PORT HUENEME : Merchant Linked to Earlier Gun Incident

A Port Hueneme liquor store owner who fatally shot an alleged shoplifter on Friday had fired a gun as a warning to a previous shoplifter last year, police said.

Shin Ung Kang, owner of the Anacapa Liquor Store at 711 E. Port Hueneme Road, used a gun to warn off to a suspected shoplifter last year, Port Hueneme Detective Rollen Burns said Wednesday. Burns called the previous gun incident “stupid” and “ill advisable,” but said it will not enter into a decision by police on whether Kang was acting in self-defense.

Burns said the department will complete an investigation next week on the shooting of Timothy Morrison, 23, then submit the case to the Ventura County district attorney’s office.

“We have some witnesses saying Morrison had a knife and he attempted to use it, and others who said they didn’t see him with a knife,” Burns said.

Morrison of Oxnard was fatally shot after allegedly stealing wine. Police said a knife was found by his body.

Although police have not reached a decision, Burns said Wednesday that his preliminary view is that Kang was acting in self-defense. He said he was basing his opinion on Kang’s testimony, the testimony of Kang’s wife who was working at the store and the position of the knife when police arrived.

“The store owner was obviously trying to protect himself,” Burns said.

The previous shooting in which Kang fired a warning shot at an alleged shoplifter who had fled through the store’s back alley was “ill advisable,” Burns said.

“You definitely don’t fire a warning shot into the air,” he said. “It’s completely unsafe. You don’t have any idea about where that bullet is going to come down.”

Kang could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.