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Ty Garfield Editor-in-Chief Violence has stolen one of our own. Lori White, a student at Shoreline Community College, was murdered on September 10, 2002. Sandy Scheonhils, Assistant to the President of Student Affairs said White attended Shoreline Community College for a number of quarters. Officer Deanna Nollette of the Seattle Police Department was able to release the following: At 1:48 a.m. on September 10, 2002, officers were dispatched to the 12700 block near 33 Ave NE in response to a report of a disturbance. Upon arrival at the apartment building at 12725 33rd Ave NE, officers found a 24-year-old Asian woman, bloodied from gunshot and other wounds. The woman was later identified as Lori White. Miss White was unresponsive and lying in the lobby of her apartment building. Seattle Fire Department medics were called and pronounced Miss White dead at the scene. Police were informed by another resident that a neighbor of White, James Bennett (26 y/o, Caucasian male) had also been shot. Bennett was contacted and transported to Harborview Medical Center for treatment for a gunshot wound to his arm along with various bruises and abrasions to his face and body.
Bennett recognized and later positively identified the attacker as White's boyfriend James Kisoon Pak, an Asian male, 26 years old. Bennett armed himself with a baseball bat and went outside. He yelled at the man to stop hitting her. Other residents, drawn to their windows by the noise, reported seeing the assailant draw a pistol and fire at Bennett. Bennett withdrew to the lobby entrance and fell to the floor wounded. Still holding his baseball bat, Bennett propped the door open, offering White refuge inside. White ran toward the open door followed closely by her attacker. While chasing White to the open lobby, the perpetrator fired his weapon hitting her three times. White fell to the floor of the lobby, where she suffered repeated kicks and punches. The attacker then turned to Bennett. A struggle ensued for control over Bennett's baseball bat. The attacker eventually wrung this free from the wounded Bennett. The Good Samaritan received several blows from the bat, but obtained the assailants empty gun. The attacker then smiled at Bennett and said "It's empty," then left the scene in White's car. Seattle police sought Pak for questioning about the events but noted he had left Washington State. Pak had relocated to Los Angeles County after a break-up with White. Police reports indicate Pak has family and friends in that vicinity. On Friday, September 13, 2002, James K. Pak turned himself in to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department in Carson, CA. Pak did not fight extradition back to Washington where he was returned and charged. Pak was charged with the first-degree murder of White and the first-degree assault on Bennett. Documents from the Prosecutor's Office indicate a history of abuse in the relationship between White and Pak. Police had been dispatched to their apartment in response to a disturbance complaint before these incidents. White had initiated a termination of the relationship. Pak, allegedly, pursued their romance and attempted to reconcile with White. During a search of White's apartment police found a single, boxed rose to the victim from Pak. Mike Lewis and Hector Castro of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer were able to interview David White, Lori White's father. Lewis and Castro reported in the P-I on September 12, 2002 that David White "had no idea that his daughter was being abused and has only learned of it since her death." David White told Castro and Lewis about how he and his ex-wife adopted Lori "from an orphanage in South Korea when he was stationed there in 1978 while in the Army." Castro and Lewis also report, Lori "graduated from Clover Park High School in Lakewood, she planned to transfer to a four-year university soon and study psychology." Castro and Lewis quote David White, "She was proud of her accomplishments, she would have made it. She was a young lady with a zest for life." This young woman, one of our peers here at Shoreline Community College, was trying to escape the abusive relationship, which ended her life. She was tragically and brutally stolen from us and cheated out of the life she was working so hard to build for herself. © 2002 Shoreline Community College™ |
