By Denisse Salazar and Sean Emery
Orange County Register
BUENA PARK, Calif. — Buena Park police say the gunman and the manager had done business.
The gunman shot and injured by SWAT officers apparently knew the bank manager he held hostage at Saehan Bank, police said Friday.
“They had a business transaction that probably is the impetus that led to (Thursday’s) event,” Buena Park police Chief Corey Sianez said, adding that details of their business relationship were not immediately available.
Myung Jae Kim demanded $250,000 during an hours-long standoff that ended when officers, about 3 p.m. Thursday, exchanged fire with him, police said.
“They went in to rescue the hostage, because she was next to him and he was approaching the door to pick up food that was being delivered to them,” Buena Park police Sgt. Roger Powell said.
Kim, 54, fired one shot from a sawed-off shotgun with the shrapnel injuring three SWAT officers, Powell said. Kim was struck multiple times by return gunfire and the female bank manager, near Kim, was pulled to safety by the lead SWAT officer, Powell said.
Kim remained in the intensive-care unit at a trauma center at UCI Medical Center in Orange. The officers were treated for minor injuries and released. The bank manager was not injured.
Officers found a homemade pipe bomb in his pocket and three others inside the bank, Powell said.
“It was a guy who showed up with a plan that could have gone really bad,” Powell said. “It was going to go real ugly if they hadn’t intervened.”
It began shortly after 11 a.m., when someone from inside the bank near Beach Boulevard and Los Coyotes Drive called police and said there was a disturbance, possibly a bank robbery, police said.
An armed man, later identified as Kim, had walked into the bank, where there were seven customers and employees, Buena Park police Sgt. William Kohanek said. The man was silent when he entered the building and sat down. A police dispatcher asked someone inside the bank to request that the man let everyone go, Kohanek said; the man agreed to release everyone but the manager.
Once Kim realized he was surrounded by officers, he called police and began making demands and threats, Powell said.
“He wasn’t going to let the bank manager go,” Powell said. “He was determined to get $250,000, or he was going to kill her and himself.” Police said the man demanded food for the bank manager because of a medical condition.
Buena Park police SWAT officers were assisted by the FBI, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol and an Anaheim police helicopter. In all, 200 law-enforcement personnel were on the scene.
Kim was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer, kidnapping and robbery.
Copyright 2012 Orange County Register