2 linked to Sacramento nightclub killings plea to weapons charges. One victim’s mom: ‘I’m upset’
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Mee Yang didn’t break her gaze, leaning forward in her chair, at two defendants accused in a Thanksgiving weekend shooting that killed her son at a south Sacramento nightclub as their judge meted out sentences Friday.
In making his plea, Kevin Thao, 19, softly uttered “no contest” while co-defendant Christopher Lin, 37, appeared out of custody to enter the same plea. Both men were among four defendants arrested by California Highway Patrol officers after they raced away Nov. 26 from a double homicide outside the Sacto By Night lounge at 7121 Governors Circle.
A fight broke out between gang members following a Hmong New Year celebration during which at least one person fired a weapon, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.
Ryu Kai Her, 23, and Sacto By Night lounge co-owner Binh Quoc Do, 51, were bystanders caught in the gunfire and were killed.
But none of the four suspects — three men and a juvenile — faced murder charges. Prosecutors charged the three adults — Thao, Lin and Menace Her — with weapons charges. It’s unknown what charges, if any, the juvenile faces.
“I’m upset,” Yang said Friday outside downtown Sacramento County Main Jail, where the plea deal was held. She later said of the sentence, “I don’t think that was really an adequate judgment on the case.”
Investigators cannot prove any of the suspects took part in the shooting or committed murder, said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office. The investigation was continuing, he said, with every possibility on the table.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on why a suspect had not yet been charged with murder in a statement. It noted forensic testing was still underway.
Thao, wearing a yellow shirt and dark pants from behind the bars of the defendant’s well, whispered yes or slightly nodded as Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shauna Franklin asked him a series of questions before sentencing him for owning a firearm as a felon. He received two years’ probation, with one year to be served in jail.
Thao, who has custody credits for nine months, could be released by the middle of July.
Franklin postponed Lin’s sentencing for one year after he pleaded no contest to illegally carrying a concealed firearm, a misdemeanor. If he doesn’t accrue any new charges, the case will be dismissed, Franklin said. His attorney, Zachary Moore, declined to comment on his case.
Her, the third suspect, was arrested last week after he failed to appear for his arraignment in November. Sheriff’s deputies issued a search warrant and arrested the 21-year-old Fresno man on April 8.
Her pleaded not guilty during a Wednesday arraignment to being in a vehicle where a firearm was concealed. He is being held on $500,500 bail, court and jail records say.
The three men and the juvenile were arrested after Thao “erratically” drove a white BMW away from the scene. CHP officers found four handguns in the car, two of them Glock-style handguns, a prosecutor said in court Friday.
“Detectives confirmed that the individuals detained in the vehicle stop were, in fact, involved with the shooting,” Gandhi wrote in a news release issued the day of the shooting.
But in court, as two men were sentenced with lesser crimes, a tear streaked down Yang’s face. She recalled she hadn’t yet received any of her son’s personal effects save for his earrings and his car. Ryu Her — no relation to the suspect in custody — had only gone to Sacto By Night to pick up his cousin who needed a sober ride home, she said.
“They were so close to their car” before gunfire rang out, Yang said. The mother and son both worked for the Stockton Joint Unified School District.
Yang and her family plan to be at future court hearings — on Friday, they wore bright red shirts printed with Ryu’s confident smile and his car, a Nissan Z coupe.
“I’m hoping (to) continue to attend (court and) show the individual that we will not give up until one of them is arrested and convicted for the murder of Ryu,” Yang said.
