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Liquor Store Murders
The Jae Yang murder case was essentially solved by a helpful phone tip according to Mary Frances Gurton in The Los Angeles Independent. Four of the five suspects were captured a couple weeks ago and the other suspect has been identified although not yet found. This murder is of specific interest to us because it happened near where lots of our friends live. They frequented that store and the murder was, of course, shocking.
Oddly, this liquor store incident happened as another liquor store's seeking of an alcohol permit brought up memories of a different shooting. Numero Uno Market was denied a conditional use permit to sell beer and wine at the spot where Latasha Harlins was killed by store owner Soon Ja Du nearly 14 years ago in South Los Angeles. That incident enraged the local neighborhood and increased tension between Korean merchants and the predominantly African-American neighborhoods they serviced in South Central.
Jae Yang's murder has only brought sadness. That and some stellar work by the Wilshire Division's Homicide Department. They've successfully closed nearly 75% of the murders in their community in the past year including Mr. Yang's.
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