Global Courant
Eina Kwon, a restaurant owner who was fatally shot Tuesday at a Seattle intersection, is remembered by friends and loved ones for her kindness.
Kwon, whose unborn child also died after the incident, was described as an “incredible human being” by those who worked near her sushi restaurant, Aburiya Bento House. She was also the mother of a 2-year-old child.
“She’s been the most selfless, loving person every time we’ve passed by. She always comes here at the same time every morning to hang out her plate, just like I hung up my plate,” Michael Hoyle, owner of businesses next to Kwon’s restaurant , said locally NBC News affiliate KING5. ‘I’m still in a bit of shock. That’s the only word I can use.”
Video recovered from a nearby building showed Kwon, 34, and her husband Sung-hyun Kwon, 37, were stopped at the intersection when a suspect ran to the driver’s side of the vehicle before firing and running, the court documents said. . Both victims were sent to Harborview Medical Center, where Eina underwent emergency surgery so that her baby could be delivered. Both Eina, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and the baby died in hospital. Sung-Hyun, who was shot in the arm, survived his injuries.
Officers arrested a suspect, 30-year-old Cordell Maurice Goosby, a short distance from the crime scene and found a firearm. Goosby told authorities he thought he saw a gun in the car and responded by firing his gun into the vehicle, court documents show. But additional video revealed that there was “no interaction between the victims and the suspect in the prior block, prior to the incident.” The documents also show that in the eyes of detectives, Goosby was “in some level of crisis, whether real or pretended”.
Goosby, who is currently being held at King County Jail, was charged Friday with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. His attorney, public defender Mark Adair, did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
“No form of justice will bring that family back home,” Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz said in a video statement posted online Thursday. “We know that this has major implications for the community, not just the wider community, but the Korean community as well. I have been in conversation and communicating with members across the community to make sure we are doing everything we can to make this community safe.”
Kim Ramirez, a friend and frequent patron of Aburiya Bento House, told KING5 that she considered the Kwons “family.”
“They were part of our family, our extended family,” Ramirez said. “And we love them. Really nice people.”
Dong Won, a friend who organized a GoFundMe to bring Eina Kwon’s family from Korea to the US for the funeral, said the mother was looking forward to throwing her toddler son a birthday party.
“I remember my friend, Eina, was very excited to customize her son’s third birthday cake and planned to have the party,” friend Dong Won wrote on the GoFundMe page. “His birthday is coming up, just a few more weeks.”
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, who said he spoke with Sung-hyun on Thursday, expressed support and condolences to the family in a statement.
“This tragedy is horrific in so many ways – we have lost a mother and an unborn child to an act of unprovoked violence.” said Harrell. “My heart is also with their young child, who will grow up without their mother, and our wider community as we process another traumatic, unnecessary incident that leaves our community hurt and incomplete.”
