Grandma Saroeun Sok family photo
Chalk up one more angry Asian American shooter, but it wasn’t the first angry old Asian. Not too many people noticed when 69 year old “uncle” John Chong went bananas April 2009 at the Korean Christian Kkottongnae Retreat Camp southeast of Los Angeles. He shot a woman and wounded a man before his next victims fought back and beat him senseless.
On Thursday September 23, Seattle suffered its most horrific shooting in four years as 60 year old much loved Cambodian “grandma” Saroeun Sok came down the stairs dressed in white with an eerie smile and suddenly opened fire on her daughter and family in her West Seattle home. Four were killed as she shot herself, her son-in-law, and two teen grand-daughters.
In Cambodia, Sok took pleasure in dressing up young women and bridesmaids for weddings. She would spend fitting gowns and taking care of hair and makeup. But she became troubled, perhaps during the time of the Killing Fields, and Sok stabbed her sister in a fit of rage. She would rarely speak of those times, but it claimed the lives of two of her children and her parents before she escaped to camps in Thailand and then the Phillipines and Philadelphia with her husband Chhoey Sok, and surviving daughter Thyda Phan.
Now In West Seattle, Sok was the matriarch of a crowded house with 11 people, but she fell into mental illness as Thyda’s second husband left and got custody of her boys. Sok was hospitalized for schuizophrenia and depression, and in previous weeks, she had a phobia about colors and would only wear white. Sok was upset when they were evicted and had to move to a crowded 3 bedroom house. She could not find her things, felt nobody liked her, and thought the television was talking and shooting at her. After she was mugged walking home, she learned to fire a gun, but her husband carefully hid his two handguns from her.
Then on the fateful day, Saroeun Sok again donned white and took one of the guns from its hiding place. Then warned auntie Lisa Sun (28) to go into her room and shut the door as she headed down to hunt down the rest of the family. Granny calmly walked down the stairs to greet her son-in-law Choen Harm (43) who was back from scarce work, and had said “even if they had only a penny among them, if the family was together, it was OK”. She calmly pulled out a gun from her jacket and shot him. Thyda heard a pop and wondered who was playing with firecrackers when 16 year old son Kevin shouted “Mom, grandma’s killed Dad!” as granny shot at Kevin and 7 yr old Nevaeh ducked under a blanket. As teen daughter Jennifer (17) ran down to help her father, she was also shot in the back. The gun jammed, as grandma seemed possessed. A woman would could barely walk was running upstairs like a demon upstairs and nobody could catch her.
Kevin pushed everybody to the downstairs basement. As Thyda called police, granny came down with the other gun and shot her. She was seen running out yelling her mother had gone crazy. Then she ran back inside to help her children, where she was shot two more times trying to take the gun away.
Granny chased the others downstairs to the basement where she stood blocking escape at the sliding door to shoot the children along with Jennifer’s boyfriend Allen Green, 18. Kevin punched out a window where the teens scrambled out, and pulled the little girl out. Then the mortally wounded Jennifer stumbled into the bedroom where granny was shooting. Kevin urged 14 year old Melina to get out, but she stayed at her sister’s side where granny shot through the window to kill little Melina. Kevin later said “She wouldn’t leave her older sister. Her older sister is her best friend” after Kevin had been missed five times.
As officers formed a police line outside the house, granny’s husband shot past into the house. He was just in time to see his wife shoot herself in the head, sadly coming out to say that he was too late.
The next day, when Tony Sun (17) walked through the house after the investigation, all he had to say was “Oh my God” as he surveyed the blood stains where his uncle and cousins were killed. That evening a hastily organized memorial service was held at Khemarak Pothiram Temple. Pink packages with pencils, books and drinks were prepared for their journey into the afterlife. Monks in orange chanted and burned incense. Sitting on rugs under a white tent without shoes, they prayed for forgiveness of grandma Sok, who could not be reborn as a human after killing another. They prayed for the release of the spirits of the others who might later return, perhaps to their own family as a new baby child nephew or niece. Survivor Thyda told reporters “I hope they come back”.
Donations to the family may be sent to:
Thyda Luellen Benevolent Account
BECU
P.O. Box 34044
Seattle, WA 98124-1044
This story is based on news articles by the Seattle Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, KIRO-TV and KOMO-TV.
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