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Second Woman Arrested In Nightclub Beating Death
A second woman has been arrested in the beating death of Kim Pham outside a Santa Ana nightclub last weekend.Right now the woman is being identified only as a 27-year-old Santa Ana resident. Santa Ana Police Chief Carlos Rojas announced her arrest at a press conference earlier today, but he offered few details about the woman, according to City News Service. He also released a photo of a third person of interest in the case (pictured at right), but police do not know her name.
Rojas said that police now believe that only three women were involved in the brutal beating that left Annie Hung "Kim" Pham brain-dead—not five people as was reported earlier. Police are still hoping to question two men in the case who are considered people of interest.
Vanesa Tapia Zavala, 25, was arrested and charged with Pham's murder earlier this week. Rojas said that Zavala was with a group of people who were leaving the Crosby Bar and Nightclub when the "verbal and physical altercation" happened. But he said the police are still looking for information about how the fight escalated so tragically, "We do not have enough information to determine how that altercation started, or who said what."
The suspects in the case have been speaking out through their lawyers about the attack. Zavala claims through her attorney she wasn't involved in the attack at all. An attorney for an unnamed suspect claims Pham started the physical fight. A witness and friend of Pham said the fight started when Pham accidentally walked into a group photo.
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During the press conference, Rojas also made a point of encouraging people to come back to Santa Ana's downtown. According to the OC Weekly, he said, "The downtown area is a very vibrant area. We have very little issues there with our police department." He added, "It is not one of our problem areas."
Mayor Miguel Pulido echoed the chief's comments and called Pham's horrific beating "an isolated incident" and that "was not part of a massive crime wave or anything of that nature."
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