Angry Call May Have Triggered O.C. Shootings

The police investigation into the bloody rampage at a Garden Grove auto parts store focused Tuesday on an angry telephone call between the shop’s owner and a disgruntled customer that occurred about half an hour before a gunman killed two and injured four.

Investigators, attempting to trace the call, believe the Monday shooting may be tied to the dispute with the owner, Charlie Kim, who neighboring business owners say often clashed with his younger customers.

Detectives also are looking for any possible links to a homicide in June at a nearby auto accessories store, where a perpetrator with a similar description shot two customers browsing through merchandise. That case remains unsolved, and as with this week’s shooting, police know of no apparent motive.

Despite the developments, authorities said they have relatively few clues to go on. They have no fingerprints or any other physical evidence at the scene of the Monday shooting, and employees said they didn’t recognize the gunman.

“A lot of these guys are just chasing ghosts,” said Garden Grove Lt. Frank Hauptmann, referring to fellow investigators. “We’re still trying to determine a motive, something to explain why.”

The killer fired off as many as 15 rounds both inside and outside the Robotek store Monday afternoon, littering the Brookhurst Street business with shell casings. The number of shots, Hauptmann said, indicates that the gunman used a semiautomatic pistol with a large-capacity magazine.

Without uttering a word, the gunman walked into the store and up to Kim, who was behind the counter. Kim was shot five times and appeared to be the primary target of the attack, police said. The man then began firing randomly at terrified customers and employees inside and outside the store.

Witnesses told police that the shooter may have been loitering outside Robotek’s doors just before the gunfire broke out.

Kim remained in critical condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange on Tuesday, hooked up to a respirator and unable to communicate. The two other gunshot victims still hospitalized were upgraded to fair condition Tuesday afternoon, UCI doctors said.

Police identified the customer killed inside the store as Mario Taborga, 21, of Anaheim. Taborga was shot once in the back as he scrambled for cover. He died at the scene.

Also killed was Tung Xuan “Tony” Ngo, 18, of Fountain Valley. Ngo and a friend were eating lunch in a Honda Accord in Robotek’s parking lot when the shooting began. When the gunman walked out the front door, he fired at least two bullets through the Honda’s windshield, striking Ngo in the chest.

Detectives have interviewed more then 10 witnesses, including Kim’s wife and four others inside the store when the shooting began, and are piecing together a composite sketch of the gunman. Police described the shooter as of Asian descent, in his late teens or early 20s, wearing a dark baseball cap, a dark blue shirt and dark pants. He fled the scene in a 1990 to 1994 gray Mazda MPV minivan.

“This is a coldblooded suspect who is armed and very dangerous,” Sgt. Mike Handfield said.

Witnesses told police the gunman fled on foot to Larson Avenue, then north on Flower Street where the minivan was parked.

A second man wearing a white tank top also ran from the scene after the shooting, outrunning a Robotek employee chasing behind, Handfield said. Investigators are trying to determine if he was involved in the shooting.

None of the Robotek employees who witnessed the shooting recognized the gunman, leading police to doubt the perpetrator was a current or recent employee.

Robotek customers and nearby store owners said that Kim, the owner, often argued with people inside the store.

“He did have a short temper. Maybe if someone raised their voice, he could have just turned away, but he was not that type,” said Kevin Lee, owner of Kevin’s Auto Center across the street. “He would argue back.”

Regular customer Hassan Mourad, 19, of Huntington Beach said the store is a popular hangout for young guys with souped-up cars. For the most part, Mourad said, Kim acted like a father to them.

“He didn’t have a lot of patience for ignorant people,” he added.

Robotek specialized in “aftermarket” accessories for mainly import cars. It’s among hundreds of performance tuning and appearance shops in Southern California that help owners “trick out” the cars with everything from custom wheels to turbochargers to simple, flashy decals.

A gunman shot two customers--one fatally--inside a similar automotive store, Zoom, on June 3. That shooting also occurred midday. The description of that gunman was very similar to that of Monday’s shooter, police said.

“We haven’t been able to make a solid connection between the two . . . but there are similarities between the two shootings,” Sgt. Handfield said. “We’re looking throughout L.A. and Orange County for similar incidents.”

Handfield said there are few details known about the most promising lead, the irate customer who telephoned Kim shortly before the shooting. Police know only that the conversation was brief, heated and possibly over money.

“If there is a conflict, then that can certainly help us uncover a motive,” Handfield said.

Charlie Kim, the owner of Robotek, was the most seriously wounded of the victims brought to UCI. He was in emergency surgery for about three hours Monday and is recovering in the intensive care ward with gunshot wounds to the right side, cheek, neck, arm, buttocks and thigh. hospital officials said.

“A number of his injuries would be considered flesh wounds,” said Michael Lekawa, the medical center’s director of trauma and critical care. “However, he did have critical injuries.”

One bullet remains lodged in the nape of 17-year-old Han Vo’s neck, a grisly reminder of Monday’s bloodletting that may remain with him the rest of his life.

Vo was shot in the left hand and the neck while trying to jump out of the passenger seat of Tony Ngo’s Honda Accord outside the store. The two college-bound freshmen drove to Robotek with another friend, Edward “Eddie” Kim of Fountain Valley, who was inside the store looking at a car stereo when the shooting began. Kim, who is not related to the store’s owner, was seriously wounded as well.

As Ngo slumped over the steering wheel, with a fatal bullet wound to his chest, Vo clutched his neck to stem blood flowing from his wound, witnesses said.

The bullet is nestled in a bramble of nerves sprouting from his fourth vertebrae. Doctors say they may do more harm than good if they remove it.

Eddie Kim’s wounds could have been worse too. A bullet entered his back and wound up just to the left of his navel. If the bullet had taken a straight path between those two points, Lekawa said, “it would have had to hit something.”

Instead, the doctor said, the bullet hugged the wall of Kim’s abdomen and “skirted around all the organs.” Kim will likely be sent home from the hospital in a couple of days.

The other gunshot victim, a 15-year-old boy from Santa Ana, was treated and released from Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center on Monday night. He was shot in the ankle while visiting Robotek with his 18-year-old brother, police said.

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Times staff writers Scott Gold, Thao Hua and Maria Elena Fernandez contributed to this report.

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Tracing the Gunman’s Path

Police continued to search Tuesday for a gunman who burst into a Garden Grove auto accessories store the day before and killed two customers, shot the shop owner five times and wounded three others. What happened during the deadly rampage:

1. Gunman enters store, shoots owner and three customers as they try to run for cover

2. Gunman exits store, shoots two teens sitting in car

3. Gunman flees, drives away in gray minivan

Note: Seven others inside store uninjured

Source: Garden Grove police

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times