Fundraiser set for slaying survivor
A fundraiser will be held today for Ian Mercado, the lone survivor of a murder-suicide last month that left five family members dead. The event, organized by families of Mabel Paine Elementary School in Yorba Linda, will be at Islands Restaurant.
A spokeswoman for the school said 20% of food and nonalcoholic purchases from 4 p.m. until closing time will be donated to Ian, 14.
An account for the teen has been established at the Washington Mutual branch, 2500 E. Imperial Highway.
His sisters Nicole, 9, and Kathleen, 8; and brother Christopher, 5, attended Mabel Paine.
Police said Ian’s stepfather, Orland Cho, 41 , killed the boy’s siblings and mother, Maricel Cho, 39, with a shotgun before turning the weapon on himself. Ian, Maricel Cho’s son from a previous relationship, is recuperating from wounds to his lower torso and hand.
-- H.G. Reza
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