A Gardena man arrested last month on suspicion of stabbing his mother to death has taken classes at El Camino and allegedly assaulted another student on campus three years ago, the college’s attorney said today.
Nicholas Kim, 30, accused of stabbing his mother 56-year-old Sohyun Kim to death, was seen exiting Sohyun Kim’s Gardena apartment in the 16400 block of Harvard Boulevard on the morning of April 19, according to a press release.
Other official documents show Nicholas Kim’s age to be 29.
When officers arrived to the apartment, Sohyun Kim was found dead inside with multiple stab wounds, according to the press release.
According to the Sheriff’s Department Inmate Information Center, Nicholas Kim was arrested 15 minutes after Gardena responded to the call. He has a court date next month at Torrance Courthouse.
Michael Travis, the college’s attorney, confirmed today that Nicholas Kim was involved in a previous incident on campus. Through a public records request, “The Union” received redacted versions of police reports regarding an incident three years ago.
According to police reports, El Camino Police Department officers responded to a fight involving Nicholas Kim and another student in the Humanities Building on March 13, 2012.
The victim complained of a “severe headache and lower extremity pain” when officers arrived, according to the police report.
“(Redacted) only remembers standing up at some point and being thrown to the ground by Kim,” according to Officer Gary Robertson’s police report. “Kim then grabbed (redacted) where the two of them struggled for several seconds and then Kim threw (redacted) to the ground.”
Detective Michael DeSanto spoke with Kim, who told him he was offended by the tone of voice used by another student who said, “Hello, sir” to him, according to the police report. Kim responded by telling “(redacted) to shut the (expletive) up.”
Moments later, another person told Kim hello and he told them to shut up, according to the police report. The first victim heard Kim’s comment “and told Kim to say the comment to (redacted) face. Kim stated he stood up and called the person a (expletive). While Kim was standing over V-1 (whom was seated), V-1 stood up and made a gesture which Kim believed was an act of aggression. At this time Kim grabbed V-1 and threw (redacted) to the ground and then took a seat after he saw the other students gather around him and yell for him to break up the fight.”
Kim was ordered not to go back to class that day, according to the police report.
ECPD Officer Francisco Esqueda, who responded to the incident with Robertson, wrote in his police report he responded to a fight in progress in the Humanities Building March 13, 2012. When he arrived, according to his report, the fight was over and the victim and suspect were pointed out to him by several witnesses.
“(Redacted) was sitting on one of the benches along the south wall of the 1st floor of the Humanities building while he was waiting for (redacted) to finish class,” a witness said, according to Esqueda’s report. “Kim told another student to ‘Shut the (expletive) up’ in reply to the other student saying ‘good morning’ to Kim. (Redacted), who was sitting on the bench that Kim had squatted next to, told Kim, ‘If you’re gonna say something to me, speak up.'”
“Kim exclaimed ‘What!’ and stood up directly in front of (redacted). Kim then grabbed the headphones that were hanging on (redacted) neck and pulled them off so forcefully that they broke,” according to Esqueda’s police report. “(Redacted) stood up and as soon as (redacted) stood up Kim grabbed (redacted) with both hands and slammed him down to the floor. (Redacted) said that (redacted) saw the victim hit (redacted) head against the floor. A few minutes later campus police arrived.”
Another witness said he heard Kim tell the first victim to shut up and when another person said good morning, Kim replied, “I thought I said to shut up,” according to Esqueda’s police report. Then Kim said, “We can take care of this right now,” before he grabbed the victim’s headphones and broke them, according to the witness statement in the police report.
“Both witnesses also told me that at no time did the victim strike, push, or have any physical contact with Kim,” according to Esqueda’s police report.
