PASADENA : Youth to Be Tried as Adult in Fatal Carjacking Bid
A 16-year-old Asian gang member suspected of shooting and killing a Monterey Park real estate agent in an attempted carjacking will be tried as an adult, a Pasadena Juvenile Court judge decided Thursday.
As a result of the decision by Judge Sherrill Luke, Coung Minh Hoang will face a first-degree murder charge when he is arraigned in Pasadena Municipal Court.
Hoang is suspected in the April 5 shooting death of Kathy May Lee, 27, who died after she drove a luxury Lexus automobile into an Alhambra fabric store parking lot, where she had planned to purchase material for her wedding dress.
In court Thursday, Deputy Dist. Atty. Silas Davis said the suspect confessed that he had gambling debts and was trying to get a Lexus for a homeboy, who would pay him $5,000 for the $49,000 car.
Davis said the youth had connections to international criminal gangs who ship luxury cars overseas to buyers in mainland China.
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