Santa Ana Family Tells the Terrors of Being Robbed

Chheng Kuy and her family thought they found a haven in Santa Ana after fleeing Cambodia’s killing fields and Pol Pot’s bloody regime nearly 20 years ago, but three masked gunmen proved them wrong.

As Kuy left home early Wednesday for her job at a local optical factory, she was grabbed by the three assailants, pistol-whipped and pushed back into the house. Her six children were inside, asleep.

“I was screaming, ‘Call the police!’ ” Kuy said Thursday, recalling the terror-filled home invasion robbery. “He hit me. He held his hand over my mouth and I bit him.”

Santa Ana police Thursday continued to search for the gunmen, who burst into Kuy’s home in the 1300 block of South Marine Street about 5:30 a.m. The men escaped in the family’s new Toyota Avalon with jewelry, a small strongbox and about $700 in cash, leaving Kuy and most of her children tied up in a back bedroom.

Before the attack, Kuy, 49, suspected something was amiss. For days, a man had sat across the street watching her house as she left for work. She believes the man saw her wearing jewelry, which may have prompted the attack.

“I felt it inside that something was going to happen,” Kuy said. “I wasn’t feeling very well.”

As the gunmen forced her back inside, the scuffle awoke the children.

Kuy’s 19-year-old daughter, Deni, heard the screaming and ran into the living room. It was too dark to see, and she could make out only shadows, she said. She didn’t realize the family was being robbed until one of the gunmen ordered her to be quiet. She complied.

As other children came running into the living room, the robbers forced them to lie face down on the floor.

“I was trying to figure out who the men were, or what they wanted, and why us,” Deni said. “I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m going to die.’ ”

She begged the assailants to spare her mother’s life.

On Thursday, Chheng Kuy sat in her modest living room and described the chilling scene. With tears in her eyes, she recalled her daughter’s haunting plea: “Don’t kill my mother. I’ve only got my mother.”

During the attack, Kuy’s 18-year-old son was stirred awake in a back bedroom, unaware of what was taking place. He was about to scold his family for being noisy, but then the teenager realized something was very wrong.

“I heard the other people,” the son said. “First I assumed it was the police or somebody [but] when I heard my sister yelling, ‘What do you want,’ I realized it was a robbery.”

The 18-year-old jumped out a back window and ran to a neighbor’s house, where he called 911.

Meanwhile, the robbers herded the family into Chheng Kuy’s bedroom. They were bound, gagged and placed face down on the bed. The men then put pillows and blankets over their heads.

“I was just praying, that was all I did. . . . I was just waiting for the gunshots,” Deni Kuy said. “I thought, ‘This is the day I’m going to die.’ ”

The men ransacked the house, demanding money and jewelry. By the time police arrived, the robbers had fled.

Police found the stolen car nearby, in the 2500 block of West McFadden Avenue. There was no trace of the safe, but police found a pair of rubber gloves they believe the men used in the robbery. So far, it’s the best clue in the investigation, said Santa Ana Police Sgt. Raul Luna.

Investigators also brought in a bloodhound Wednesday morning, but the dog lost the robbers’ trail a block north of the spot where the car was found.

Thursday the family was still recovering from the shock.

“It was kind of scary to sleep last night,” said Chheng Kuy’s 12-year-old daughter.

The Kuys said the robbery brought back memories of the family’s Cambodian homeland, and Pol Pot’s gun-toting thugs, before the family fled to the U.S. in 1981.

“We escape from that and we come into this,” Deni Kuy said.