SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Business owners and customers at Little Vietnam Plaza are remembering a beloved jewelry store owner.
She was shot and killed during a robbery in Sacramento County Friday morning.
A boarded-up store front and broken glass are what's left of Kim Tin Jewelry Store at Little Vietnam Plaza in South Sacramento.
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office says on Friday, about six suspects broke into the family-owned business and a woman, who business owners say was the owner's wife, was killed during the robbery.
"Very sad. Somebody lost a mom, a daughter, an aunt, a sister," said Nam Nguyen, who is a long-time customer of Little Vietnam Plaza.
Nguyen says he's fed up with seeing the Asian community become a target.
"This is the thing about the Asian community you got to understand, we're very 'keep to ourselves,' right? We take care of our own, and we keep to ourselves. We don't like to make big hoopla out of stuff, and that's why it's always swept under the rug with us. We don't do massive protests, burn down stores and loot. But there's a lot of anger boiling underneath the surface," Nguyen said.
Nearby business owner Robyn Ha, who has known the store owners for at least two decades, started a small memorial at the storefront.
"Every time I passed by their shop, I was always greeted with a smile and a wave, and, walking past, I'm not gonna see that anymore. I'm not going to be able to say, 'Hi' to my neighbors. They had been here for decades.... it was just a comfort to see them. And a married couple like them, I always strive to hope to be as cute and as old as they were. They were really a loving couple," Ha said.
According to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office, the robbery happened in under a minute.
While it's not known if the suspects were armed with a gun, they do know they each had a weapon used to break the jewelry cases.
Investigators say the owner fired a gun.
Crime scene investigators are now going through the autopsy and forensics to figure out what exactly happened.
Both the sheriff's office and business owners say there have been other incidents in this area, but something of this magnitude is rare.
There's fear among business owners knowing these individuals are still out there and that they could possibly strike again.
"I really want them to solve what happened here. I don't want to see those people go and not get the consequence that they deserve. But that's one thing that I'm kind of frustrated about. I'm just waiting. Like what's happening, what's going on and is this gonna get wrapped up and solved anytime soon?" Ha said.
The victim's name has not been released, and it's not clear if the store plans to reopen.
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