Nearly 150 students gathered in Bruin Plaza for a candlelight vigil in memory of alum shot by police
Signs reading, “10 shots too many,” and “La Habra Police killed my friend” rose from the crowd of students, many of whom wore black T-shirts bearing Cho’s picture and the words, “Justice for Mike Cho.”
According to police, on the night of Cho’s death, two officers arrived at the parking lot of a La Habra liquor store in response to reports of vandalism. They fired their weapons when Cho did not immediately comply with their commands to drop the tire iron he was holding.
The Orange County district attorney's office is investigating the shooting, but few community leaders expect the two officers involved to be punished for the 25-year-old artist's death. Authorities refused to identify the officers.
The caller identified a man who turned out to be Cho, who was standing outside a liquor store. A store surveillance tape first obtained by the Korea Times and posted on the Internet shows Cho walking toward two officers, who have guns drawn, a sequence that lasts about 25 seconds.
Honglan Cho said the surveillance tape shows that her son was "very calm and relaxed" and not a threat to police.
Computerized police logs obtained by New America Media suggest the officers quickly turned to deadly force when they confronted Cho, whom they suspected of vandalism.
According to the Computer Automated Transcript documenting the incident, at 2:04 p.m. the cops contacted their dispatcher to say they’d located Cho. “Out with the subject near the liquor store,” the transcript reads.
Just 41 seconds later they radioed dispatch again, this time saying they’d shot the suspect and now needed paramedics to attend to him.
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