Suspect in Boy’s Slaying Is Released

A 14-year-old Long Beach boy charged with murder in the shooting death of a 17-year-old Cypress High School football player was freed Tuesday after witnesses failed to connect him to the crime.

“We didn’t feel there was sufficient evidence to go forward with the case at this time,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Chris Kralick said.

The boy, who was arrested on Oct. 5, 1995, the day of the shooting, had been ordered to stand trial as an adult for the slaying of football linebacker Robert Jin.

Jin was beaten and shot in the head after he parked his car in the lot outside his family’s apartment building in the 9200 block of Bloomfield Street, police said.

Two assailants, one believed to be a schoolmate of Jin’s, walked up and started punching him through the open driver’s side window, police said. An attacker then fired about six shots, one of which struck Jin in the head.

Neighbors who saw the attack lead investigators to the 14-year-old suspect, whose name is being withheld because of his age, police said. The second assailant was never identified or arrested.

But during a police lineup last week, witnesses were unable to identify the teen as the assailant.

“There was no other evidence to tie him [the suspect] to the crime,” Deputy Public Defender Jamie Ollinger said, adding that the teen was released from Juvenile Hall Tuesday afternoon.

Ollinger said a person who identified the suspect in a photo as the attacker picked out someone else during a police lineup, and a second person was unable to identify anyone in the lineup.

Another witness, a woman who saw the murder, maintains that it occurred too quickly for her to identify anyone, Ollinger said.

On the day of the shooting, fingerprints were lifted from the victim’s Honda. Tests later showed they did not belong to the suspect, Kralick said.

Weapons were seized at the suspect’s house during a police search, but they didn’t match the bullets recovered from the scene and victim, he said.

“The Cypress Police Department is going to canvas the area and see if there are other witnesses who did not come forward,” Kralick said.

Although the 14-year-old has been released, police said he remains a viable suspect in the investigation.

“You don’t want to prosecute [him] or anyone else without sufficient evidence,” Kralick said, “because if the jury finds him not guilty and if we find additional evidence, the case would have already been placed once in jeopardy, and we would not be able to prosecute again.”

Family friends of the victim were disheartened by the suspect’s release.

“This is ridiculous,” said Deacon Daniel Oh of the Miracle Land Korean Baptist Church, where the Jin family attended services. “I feel so sad for the family.”