Text from Weapon's OC Register article, dated 2.17.09 (Uh, that's today and this is indeed the OC Register, and they do indeed say Trabuco Grove shopping center.....) You guys need to get this "conspiracy theory" out of your head. Too bad IPD doesn't have more of your trust.
And the reason you are not hearing much detail about this shooting is b/c we (police) don't talk about murder investigations to the press, unless we are at a dead end or think the public can help. All facts are kept close to the vest with choreographed "leaks" to the press to see if we can shake anything loose. Ocasionally (shocker here....hold onto your hats) we manipulate the press as well, and leak false facts. I won't go into detail why.
<strong>Tuesday, February 17, 2009</strong>
Police: Irvine fatal shooting not random
Authorities investigating death of 42-year-old man found in car parked behind busy Irvine shopping center.
By SEAN EMERY
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
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IRVINE ? Police say the shooting death of a man found inside a car parked behind an Irvine eatery <strong>was most likely not a random act</strong>. Investigators continue to focus their investigation on the search for a man seen leaving the scene of the crime.
Police late Wednesday afternoon found the body of Hong Guang Zhu, 42, in a white Lexus parked behind a row of restaurants in the <strong>Trabuco Grove Shopping Center</strong> at Jeffrey Road and Roosevelt, near the I-5 freeway.
Authorities say the Lexus was registered to Zhu, a Rowland Heights resident who worked at the Tri Village Chinese Restaurant in the shopping center.
Zhu reportedly died of a gunshot wound, but police have not said to what portion of his body, and a weapon has not been found.
Authorities have released few details about the shooting, but Irvine police Lt. John Hare on Tuesday said detectives do not believe it was a random act.
"They are continuing to follow up leads to get a clearer picture of what happened, but they don't believe it was random," Hare said.
Investigators are still looking for a man seen walking away from the crime scene minutes after the shooting.
The man, who was wearing a dark, hooded sweat shirt at the time, is in his mid-20s and about 5 feet, 6 inches tall, Hare said.
An overnight search in the hours after the shooting with numerous officers, helicopters and bloodhounds scouring the neighborhoods surrounding the bustling shopping center came up empty, Hare said.
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Police continue to investigate the shooting as a homicide</strong>, Hare said, although they have not ruled out the possibility of a self-inflicted gunshot.
Hare declined to comment on whether the victim had a criminal record.
"That is certainly part of the investigation, but not the most prominent part of it at this point," Hare said.
Police have also denied any link between the white Lexus at the Irvine shooting and similar vehicles tied to a recent double slaying in Stanton, and robberies in Fullerton and La Habra.
The white Lexus used in at least one of the Fullerton robberies was already located, while the license plate of the Lexus belonging to one of the Stanton victims doesn't match the one in the Irvine shooting.
The shooting surprised many in the Irvine community, which is on track to become the safest city for the fifth year in a row.
Violent crime dropped 17 percent during the first half of 2008, putting the city's per capita crime rate on track to be the lowest in Irvine's history, according to preliminary FBI statistics.
<strong>Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call Detective Noelle Smiley at 949-724-7168.</strong>
Contact the writer: 949-553-2911 or semery@<strong>ocregister</strong>.com