Cypress High Athlete Killed in Driveway : Crime: Victim was beaten, shot while parked outside his family’s apartment. A boy, 14, is arrested.

A popular linebacker on the Cypress High School football team was beaten and shot to death early Thursday by a schoolmate and another teen-ager after he arrived home in his normally sedate neighborhood after a late-night study session, police said.

Robert (Bong Kwan) Jin, 17, had just pulled into the parking lot of his family’s apartment building in the 9200 block of Bloomfield Street when the assailants walked up to his car and began punching him through the open driver’s side window, Sgt. John T. Schaefer said.

“The two started hitting him in the car, [then] one pulled out a gun and started firing multiple times,” Schaefer said.

The attacker fired about six shots, one of which struck Jin in the head, Schaefer said. When officers arrived at the scene shortly after 12:20 a.m., Jin was slumped over in the driver’s seat of his car. He was rushed to UC Irvine Medical Center where he died four hours later.

Several neighbors heard the shots and saw two suspects run away.

Based on their description, a 14-year-old Cypress High School student was arrested about half a mile away at the home of his relatives. He was booked Thursday at the county Juvenile Hall on suspicion of murder. Police would not release his name because of his age.

Investigators still are looking for the second assailant who, along with the 14-year-old, might be associated with a gang, Schaefer said. Police did not have a description of the second suspect.

“It’s unclear whether the suspects knew Jin,” Schaefer said. “We don’t have the motive at this time.”

At the shady Villa Creek Apartments, one neighbor speculated that the teen-agers shot Jin in a struggle to steal his 1995 Honda Accord.

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Jesse Sanchez, 19, who has been Jin’s friend more than a year, drove into the parking lot a few minutes after police arrived.

“When I saw a police car and the Honda, I immediately knew it was Robbie’s,” said Sanchez, who met Jin while attending Cypress High School. “Then I thought they must have tried to steal his car. It was like a brand-new car.”

Sanchez said the car belonged to Jin’s father.

But, from witnesses’ accounts, “It doesn’t seem like an attempted robbery,” Schaefer said.

Carjackings haven’t been a problem in the area, said Sanchez’s aunt, Tina Sanchez, 27. She described the sleepy neighborhood as a safe place where residents often chat at the courtyard benches.

But she did recall a few thefts of car stereos from the parking lot earlier this year.

“There were some gangs from Hawaiian Gardens who were stealing radios at night,” she said. “It’s safe here but you never know what could happen at night.”

Police said there is no indication that Jin was involved with gangs.

At Cypress High School, where Jin was on the varsity football squad, the mood was somber Thursday as school administrators broadcast a morning announcement of Jin’s death. School officials told students that Jin was killed possibly during a carjacking.

“People were sad and everything,” said freshman Joel Crawford, who also lives in Villa Creek. “Lots of people were mad that he was shot. He was really nice to everybody. He got good grades and had lots of friends.”

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Jin’s older brother said the shooting left him “just devastated.” With a soft voice halted by tears and anger, Mike Jin spoke for his parents as they were being consoled by a living room filled with friends and relatives.

“He’s a year younger than me. Ever since he was small, we were best friends. We shared the same room,” he said.

He described his brother as a normal high school junior, a “terrific athlete” who loved to play football and volleyball and had a knack for drawing. He was attacked after coming home from a study session with friends, Mike Jin said.

“He never was in any kind of trouble at all,” Mike Jin said. “Ask his teachers and his coaches, he was a perfect kid. Anybody would say he is a good guy.”

Josh Crawford, a 17-year-old classmate of Robert Jin’s, said he had known Jin for about four years. He said Jin loved sports and had planned to join the school varsity volleyball team this year.

“He was really helpful,” Crawford said. “He would teach people things, like he taught me how to play basketball when we were freshmen.”

“The guy was so nice and quiet,” Tina Sanchez said. “He would always say hi to you whenever anyone walked by.”

Jesse Sanchez said he became close friends with Jin when they found out they lived in the same neighborhood. Jin would routinely stop by the Sanchez house to get his closely cropped hair clipped, Sanchez said.

“He came over and got his hair cut just two days ago,” Sanchez said. “He didn’t have problems with anyone. He loved football and would go to church with his brother or family every Sunday.”