Fullerton Police Identify Prime Suspect in CHP Officer’s Death

Fullerton police fanned out across Southern California on Tuesday, trying to catch the killer of the CHP officer gunned down last weekend, as they tried to explain the mistaken arrest of a man picked up near the officer’s abandoned cruiser.

Fullerton Police Chief Patrick McKinley interrupted a City Council meeting to announce that police had issued a nationwide bulletin for a new suspect, whom he identified as Hung Thanh Mai.

The chief said that Mai, 25, has been linked to the crime scene and is considered a prime suspect, but that investigators are considering other suspects, too. McKinley said Mai is known to wear soft body armor and carry an assault weapon, but the chief declined to provide further details about the suspect.

McKinley said that the department issued a nationwide bulletin for Mai “because he is so very dangerous.”

“We very strongly believe that he’s the guy,” said Lt. Jeff Roop.

At least 25 officers from the Fullerton Police Department and the California Highway Patrol spent Tuesday interviewing witnesses, checking leads and looking for clues that might lead to the gunman who shot CHP Officer Don J. Burt, a 25-year-old rookie with a pregnant wife.

The intensified search came a day after the abrupt release of Young Ho Choi, a 32-year-old painting contractor who was arrested early Sunday near Burt’s squad car. Choi was set free Monday night as mounting evidence convinced police they had the wrong man.

Choi, a Buena Park resident who had been working in Palm Springs, walked away from the Fullerton City Jail after fingerprint and gunpowder tests failed to link him to the crime scene. Police said they arrested Choi after several eyewitnesses identified him as being near the cruiser when it was abandoned in Anaheim.

“The evidence was not there, so we released him,” Fullerton Police Sgt. David Stanko said. “There is no indication that he is still a suspect.”

During an interview at a West Los Angeles hotel Tuesday, Choi and his attorney complained about the way he was treated by police. On Sunday morning, officers refused to let him make a phone call, talk to an attorney or even go to the bathroom, Choi said.

“I was treated like an animal by the police,” Choi said.

Every time he asked permission to make a phone call or contact an attorney, he was told to “shut up,” he said.

“There are many other words [in the English language], but they kept using the word ‘shut up,’ ” he said.

Choi’s attorney, William Min, said he is examining the case but has not yet decided whether to file a lawsuit.

“Our community is outraged,” said Min, a prominent Korean American attorney. Choi emigrated from South Korea when he was 17.

Choi said he had taken a bus from Palm Springs to Anaheim on Saturday night and checked into a motel. He then decided to take a city bus to his Buena Park apartment to pick up his mail. But, after waiting an hour for the bus, he began hitchhiking and then was arrested.

Choi, who separated from his wife three weeks ago, said he traveled to Orange County because he had planned to visit his children Sunday at a church in Orange. He hadn’t seen them since the separation because he was working in Palm Springs.

Burt was killed Saturday night after he pulled over a white BMW headed south on the Orange Freeway in Fullerton. Police say they do not know why Burt pulled the car over, but the officer quickly discovered that the driver’s license was suspended.

Whoever killed Burt shot him six times, then fired a seventh round into his head. Several stunned witnesses watched the slaying from the parking lot of a nearby Coco’s restaurant. The killer left behind his BMW and fled in Burt’s cruiser. He abandoned that car a few miles down the road in Anaheim.

Choi and another man were picked up by police near Burt’s abandoned car shortly after the shooting.

In an unusual attempt to identify the killer, police stood Choi up against a squad car, shined a flashlight in his face and drove witnesses in other police vehicles past him.

Meanwhile, leaders of Orange County’s Korean community said they were saddened at Burt’s death, but glad to learn that Choi was free.

As late as Monday evening, before Choi was released, the Korean American Assn. of Orange County had planned to publicly apologize for “one of our own.”

“We made several phone calls to the Police Department and at the time, they said they were certain they had the right person,” said Young Kim, vice chairman of the Korean American Assn.

The group was relieved at the news of Choi’s release.

“He’s been badly damaged; his reputation has been brought to the bottom of the pit,” Kim said. “But we’re just breathing a sigh of relief that it wasn’t one from our community.”

Times staff writers Lily Dizon and K. Connie Kang and correspondent Mimi Ko contributed to this story.