Man Killed After Chase Is Identified

The 27-year-old man shot to death by police in an Orange parking lot was identified Thursday as a former Orange County resident with a criminal history who had been the target of deportation proceedings.

Hong-Il Kim left the United States for his native Korea in 1993 after he had committed a string of crimes between 1987 and 1992, amassing more than a dozen criminal convictions including assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft, possession of cocaine and carrying a concealed weapon, Orange Police Sgt. Barry Weinstein said. In January 1993 he was cited for driving more than 100 mph.

Kim had recently returned to see his father, who had undergone surgery, authorities said.

On Wednesday, according to police, Kim was driving recklessly and caught the attention of a Westminster police officer. He led authorities on a high-speed chase through four cities, sideswiping several cars on the way. The 30-minute chase ended in a shopping center parking lot, where California Highway Patrol officers tried to box the vehicle into a parking space while police surrounded it with guns drawn.

When Kim then tried to run over at least two officers, they and other officers opened fire, police said.

Kim left Seoul in 1985 with his older brother, Hong-Ki Kim, to join their parents, brother and sister in Orange County. He attended Western High School in Anaheim and helped his family operate three restaurants in Orange and Los Angeles counties, the older brother said.

But eight years and numerous criminal convictions later, he returned to Korea. About the same time, efforts to deport him were halted, but the reason was not immediately ascertainable, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials said Thursday.

“There are a lot of reasons why we would not continue,” said Richard Rogers, INS district director for Southern California. “It could be that he just was not deportable. There are certain crimes that have to be committed in a certain amount of time before we can try to deport somebody.”

Orange police said the deportation proceedings were dismissed after Kim agreed to return to Korea voluntarily. But Rogers said Thursday that the INS would never make such a deal if there were legitimate reasons to deport him.

Kim returned to the United States last Friday to visit his family in Buena Park after his father’s leg surgery. On Sunday, he borrowed his older brother’s vehicle and failed to return it.

Investigators said the officers who surrounded Kim in the parking lot Wednesday repeatedly yelled at him to stop, but he continued “using his vehicle as a weapon,” Weinstein said.

“They tried to get out of the way. But every second, the situation was changing,” Weinstein said.

Four officers from Westminster, Orange and the California Highway Patrol fired 10 to 15 rounds, witnesses said.

Police said Thursday that they had found no weapon or drugs in the vehicle but they are still searching it.

The drama was captured on television and taped by the Kim family. On Thursday, they replayed the tape to try to piece together the events.

Kim’s father, Kim Yong-Jae, 68, said police are “supposed to protect, not kill. . . . I wished that I never had that operation. It was because of my operation that he came here. Now he’s dead.”

Hong-Ki Kim said he could not understand why officers “didn’t get out of the way. He didn’t have a gun and he was boxed in. In front of him was a wall. Where could he have gone?”