Tragedy Over a Bottle of Juice

A Korean American grocer killed a black teenager at the Empire Liquor Market in the 9100 block of South Figueroa Street after the two scuffled when the grocer accused the girl of trying to shoplift a bottle of orange juice. The shooting of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins by grocer Soon Ja Du, then 51, was recorded on the store’s security cameras. Du was convicted of manslaughter and given five years’ probation. Latasha’s death exacerbated tensions between black and Korean American residents. That tension, along with the videotaped police beating of Rodney G. King and the not guilty verdicts in the officers’ first trial, contributed to the rage that fueled the 1992 riots.