An officer stands guard outside a Saehan Bank office in Buena Park, Calif., a day after a 2012 shootout between SWAT officers and a gunman. Image via Orange County Register
An Irvine, Calif., man who armed himself with a sawn-off shotgun and held a bank manager hostage in 2012 has been acquitted of attempted murder, but still faces up to 24 years in prison on lesser charges, the Orange County Register reported.
Jurors last Friday found Myung Jae Kim, 56, guilty of assault with a firearm on a hostage and three police officers, possessing a destructive device with the intent to injure, and false imprisonment. The jury decided that Kim did not intentionally discharge the gun, a charge that would have added 20 years to his sentence.
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Kim showed little emotion when read the verdict by the court, as his wife started to cry, according to theOC Register. He would have faced a maximum of 50 years to life in prison if he had been convicted on all charges. He faces sentencing in June.
On March 1, 2012, Kim walked into a Saehan Bank branch in Buena Park armed with four pipe bombs and a loaded, sawn-off shotgun. After holding the bank manager, Michelle Kwon, hostage for four hours, a SWAT team entered the bank and shot Kim multiple times.
Myung Jae Kim. Image via Orange County Register
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During the shootout, Kim’s shotgun discharged a bullet that missed the hostage by an inch, according to the prosecution. Three officers sustained minor injuries from shrapnel and glass, while the bankmanager was unharmed. Kim has since undergone multiple surgeries.
Deputy District Attorney John Cristl told the jury that Kim had planned to kill the hostage and had made preparations before entering the bank. However, Deputy Public Defender Kevin Song argued that the shotgun was fired inadvertently when his client was backing off.
Bank manager Michelle Kwon is led away from a Saehan Bank branch, where she was held hostage for nearly four hours. Image via Orange County Register
He said Kim did not intend to kill, but was a “family man desperate to get attention,” after $235,000 had allegedly disappeared from his safe deposit box in 2007 from a Hanmi Bank where Kwon had previously worked. The verdict, Song said, was “the right result,” according to the OC Register.
Deputy D.A. Christl said the “victims received justice for the crime.”
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