Popular South-Central Grocer Killed in Holdup

A beloved South-Central grocer whom everyone called “Mama” was shot and killed Wednesday during a robbery as she returned to her store from the bank.

Chung Hong, 52, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her son, Eddie Hong, 21, was wounded in the leg and was in stable condition at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

Hong and her husband, Jung, had returned from a bank where they had gone to withdraw cash for their store, said LAPD Officer Jason Lee. When their son joined them in the parking lot, two gunmen approached and demanded the vinyl bag filled with cash.

“The victim refused,” Lee said. “There was a struggle, and that’s when a gunman fired five rounds.”

Jackie Brown, who regularly shopped at the market, located at 54th Street and Van Ness Avenue, said that Hong knew all the children who shopped there. Hong picked up her nickname because she called the women customers “mama” and the men “papa.”

“She was like a mama to all of us,” Brown said. “If you didn’t have money, she’d give you . . . credit. If you came into the store coughing, she’d say ‘Mama, you’re sick, take some medicine, take some chicken soup.’ ”

Leon Ball, who lives near the market, said he was getting ready to have breakfast when he heard a scream and then a few shots. He looked out his window and saw Hong on her back.

Then he saw one of the robbers “standing over her and just dumping [shots] on her. He had the money in his hands and was still dumping on her. By the time I got down Mama was hurting bad.”

Residents often are reluctant to cooperate with police after homicides because they fear retaliation. But Hong was so well-liked, neighbors made an exception and talked with detectives, authorities said.

A few blocks from the shooting, detectives found a red Firebird that is believed to be the robbers’ getaway vehicle, South Bureau homicide detectives said. Eight two-detective teams are working the case.

A friend of Hong’s, who requested anonymity, said the family lived in La Canada. Eddie Hong, a college student, has dreamed of starting his own business, the friend said.

Virginia Davis, who shops at the store almost every day, said Hong had a reputation among black customers “for being especially nice and friendly to them.”

“She was a very sweet lady,” Davis said. “The shooting really shuts down the neighborhood. There’s not a lot of stores here, and people relied on her.”

Times staff writer Miles Corwin contributed to this story.