Officers witnessed shooting
But police say undercover units were too far away to prevent restaurateur's death
Wednesday, Jul 18, 2007 - 12:09 AM
By BILL MCKELWAY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
In a harrowing few seconds, a routine police stakeout last week became a homicide scene while law enforcement officers watched futilely through binoculars.
"It all happened very fast," Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney Wade Kizer said yesterday, describing a chilling scene last week, in which officers feared making a bad situation worse. "Police did absolutely nothing wrong in my opinion."
Restaurant owner Lin Zi Ping died from gunshot wounds after two males suddenly rounded a corner at the East Towne Plaza shopping center about 10:25 p.m. and confronted him as he locked up his store for the night.
Undercover police watched from a distance as a suspicious vehicle in the dimly lit parking lot passed by the shop and then turned a corner behind the strip shopping center in the 2900 block of Williamsburg Road. The site is about 1 mile from the Henrico-Richmond border.
Kizer said surveillance efforts had been under way in the area for some time in the wake of robberies and other crimes. In April, a Shenandoah Valley man spending the night at the Legacy Inn, about 2½ miles away off Williamsburg Road, was gunned down in front of his two sons.
After Lin's death last week, police acknowledged that his Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant had been robbed about a month earlier.
Kizer said that last Wednesday night, events transpired too quickly and too far from police for them to intervene quickly and safely. Lin was with another family member who was not hurt.
The proximity of police helps explain how officers were able to make arrests in the case within a matter of minutes.
Kizer said police rushed to the scene and used a patrol car to ram the vehicle used by the suspects. According to police, an altercation followed and an unidentified Henrico officer fired three shots.
Henrico Police spokesman Lt. Doug Perry said yesterday that Jujuan White, 18, of the 5100 block of Futura Avenue, was wounded. He was treated and released to authorities after a brief hospital stay.
Perry said that the officer involved in the shooting has been placed in an administrative position pending completion of an investigation by internal affairs. That is routine procedure when an officer is involved in a shooting, Perry said. Results of the investigation will be turned over to the county prosecutors office.
Another suspect, Derrell Taylor, 19, of the 6400 block of Goldenrod Court, sustained minor injuries when he was cut by flying glass from the collision.
A third suspect, Demetri Johnson, 16, of the 3200 block of Gay Avenue also was arrested. All three Henrico residents are charged with murder and attempted robbery and are being held without bond.
Yesterday Tinh duc Phan, chairman of the Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce praised the effort of police to address safety concerns in the Williamsburg Road area.
"But this is a big tragedy," Tinh said. He described Lin's family as devastated by Lin's death. Another friend of the family said the family moved to the Richmond area from New York and have a disabled child. Family members and friends have kept the restaurant in operation, reopening just two days after Lin died.
Tinh said he and Henrico police officials will meet soon with the family to assure them they are safe and to express concern for what happened.
Clayton Searle, a former Los Angeles detective who operates a police tactical training operation in North Carolina, said yesterday that the public should not jump to conclusions about whether Henrico officers responded properly.
"There is just not enough information out yet to really understand what was appropriate," he said. "It was a decision that had to be made in a split second."
Perry, the Henrico spokesman, declined to comment on the investigation into Lin's death. He said "every situation in these circumstances is different."
Labels: Culture
¶ posted by The Editor 9:36 AM
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