by COURTNEY LEE
courtney@charactermedia.com
A 20-year-old Korean American man was shot and killed by a security guard outside an Anaheim medical marijuana facility on March 15 following a suspected burglary, according to Anaheim police.
Family and friends gathered for the funeral of Jee Sun Yoo of Fullerton last Thursday at the Han Kook Mortuary, according to a posting on Facebook. Yoo, known as Jason among friends, would have turned 21 on March 23.
According to Anaheim authorities, the security guard heard commotion outside the facility—located in the 200 block of North Wilshire Ave.—around 6 a.m. and spotted Yoo trying to climb a fence. The guard confronted Yoo and a struggle ensued, resulting in the fatal shooting. Yoo was armed with a weapon, police spokesman Lt. Eric Trapp told KoreAm, but did not specify further details, since the case is still under investigation by homicide detectives.
According to Trapp, the guard fully cooperated with police and was released after questioning. No charges have been filed against the guard, whose name or age has not been released.
The on-duty security guard was not assigned to patrol the facility that evening and only happened to be in close proximity, Trapp told KoreAm. While the guard was employed by a company contracted to provide security to the Anaheim marijuana dispensary, he was assigned to be patrolling other areas that night.
Marijuana dispensaries, otherwise known as medical marijuana clinics, were banned by the city of Anaheim in 2013, yet a handful of dispensaries are still operating, while subject to civil and criminal charges for staying in business. City spokeswoman Ruth Ruiz told the OC Register that officials are still in the process of shutting down the businesses.
Efforts to eliminate the city’s marijuana clinics seem to have produced some confusion, however. A woman who picked up the phone at Anaheim Patient Care told KoreAm she was unsure about the legality of her business and was under the impression that the city was going to leave a few dispensaries open. Robert Havens, manager of Anaheim Holistic Care, another such medical marijuana clinic, said in a phone interview he disagrees with the city’s plans.
“The state allows us to operate under Proposition 215,” Havens said, referring to the 1996 California ballot measure that legalized medical marijuana. “Patients need safe access to medications and we provide that. It’s not fair that cities want to take that away. We are in battle with the city right now.”
Havens, whose business competes with the facility outside that which Yoo was fatally shot, said he also hires contracted security guards to patrol his business.
“They are licensed guards,” Havens said. “I’m confident that if any type of incident happened, the security guard would use the necessary force within his right to defend what he needs to defend. We would never expect anybody to go outside their bounds of abilities.”
Anaheim police declined to release further details regarding the incident until the investigation is complete.
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Featured image via OC Register
