Store Reopens After Protest

A mini-mart that shut down last Friday in the midst of a noisy protest over a fatal shooting reopened Wednesday.

Sandler’s Liquors, at 7th Street and Rose Avenue, closed down for five days after demonstrators gathered outside and urged customers to stay away after an unarmed black youth was shot to death by a clerk July 29.

“We wanted to let it quiet down. Today it’s OK, no problem,” Peter Hieng, the store’s manager, said Wednesday.

Police said Hieng’s father, Benson, said he shot Lester Nichols, 16, after Nichols struck Peter Hieng while trying to steal two bottles of beer and a bag of candy bars. Benson Hieng said that he was defending his son.

Peter Hieng, 24, also shot at the youth when Nichols lunged toward his father. But the younger Hieng missed, according to police. Neither Hieng was charged.

“It was a justifiable homicide,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Roxane Carvajal. “Nichols had committed a robbery. Mr. (Benson) Hieng shot in self-defense.”

Police and minority leaders feared that the shooting would trigger a confrontation between blacks and the Laotian family that runs the store. Between 12 and 30 young people protested outside the store Friday, Saturday and Sunday while several uniformed police officers watched.

“The leaders from both communities have similar positions. They all believe there is mistrust and misunderstanding of each other and each other’s cultures,” Oliver Wang, a member of the Asian Advisory Committee, told police officials.