The next day came along and I woke up at 8:00 a.m. to the alarm-music of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” on the station 101.9 – The L-A-X Beat. Before the song began it said that the weather would be sunny and warm day with a high of 78 degrees! Before I knew it, the time was 9:30 a.m. and I was to meet up with Adam in his 2011 Escalade ESV downstairs. We picked up Layla and Michael to take them to work in another city not too far from the LBC.
As the four of us in Adam’s car pulled up to Lakewood’s Distribution Industry Center on Clark Avenue and Hardwick Street also known to most locals here as “DI”, Adam and I went in to scope things out. I must say it was like the Salvation Army but better cheap with stuff that was worth buying.
As I looked through the electronics area for something, I bumped into a guy that looked the same age as me. I didn’t think anything of it and said, “Excuse me,” and went on my way. I noticed he was Asian, ordinary, and about 5’3” and around 180 lbs.
When I got to the checkout without anything, I saw Adam was already waiting outside and we walked to the car. As we drove-off, we saw him walking to his red 2012 Tong Jian S11 Coupe. It had a 2.4-liter four-cylinder with 162 horsepower and 160 pound-feet of torque. Adam had this worried look on his face and told me that we have a problem. I asked why and Adam told me, “That’s Chang Lee, former head of an Asian gang in Norwalk,” 14 minutes North from Lakewood.
I learned on the ride back that Adam knew Chang and he was part of a gang that call themselves the “Ying-Yang Norwalk City-Gang.” This was the oldest known gang in that town dating back to the early 70’s before there were even Asians in Norwalk.
As we got to the apartments, Mary-Ann was in the kitchen making breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and hash brown. As we were eating breakfast, Luke came downstairs in his boxers and wife-beater. That’s when Adam brought up Chang. I knew something was wrong with the look on Luke’s face. After we ate breakfast, we headed to Lili’s to let the others know.
The gang assembled and Adam began to talk, saying that Chang is in town and if the Ying-Yang Gang even gets sight of Chang in town, that they’d kill him! History has it that Chang was the former member of the gang and left it two-years ago to start his trek through college and a better life. Since the age of 12, Chang had known nothing more than the gang. Rumor has it that when Chang left the gang that he blamed them for killing his younger brother, Tang, and vowed to never return to the city again, until now!
After we finished at the sports grill, we drove back to Lakewood to see if Adam could call and meet up with Chang for lunch. All in agreement, we decided to stay the rest of the morning.
Noon stuck and both Layla and Michael joined us at a grill next door called Cuban Pete’s, near the DI, for a quick lunch. As we ate, Chang walked in introduced himself to us, and sat beside Adam. Mike then told me that Adam and Chang both knew each other since they were young, still in diapers, but Chang is three years older than Adam. Mike also said that the two parents knew each other as college students and since Chang joined the gang that their friendship grew distant.
Chang’s parents died in China in a drive by. Police reported that it was gang related, but never traced back to any officiating gang. That’s when Chang (18) decided to drop his lifestyle as a gang member to do something more with his life for the sake of his brother. Both brothers moved out of Norwalk and Chang went to University of Southern California while Tang went to a near-by school.
Sadly, three months ago, Tang was killed as he was driving back home to Los Angeles; he was only 17. Chang knew that it was the Ying-Yang gang. He also knew that Tang was involved in a high-speed race that killed him because, as good of a driver as Tang was, he wouldn’t drive into on-coming traffic and hit head-on into a semi-truck.
Police reports and highway cameras show that a separate car while racing hit Tang. When police checked-out the plates on the other car; they found and traced it back to the previous owner, who was an 80-year old man. Weeks later they found out that the plates were stolen from a car that was in the junkyard for years. Later, when photos of the plates were maximized and enhanced, police noticed that the year “12” had been painted on to look like the registration sticker. Other reports also stated that they couldn’t find the car that match the description that was shown on the cameras, because either they changed colors or had hidden the car.
Ever since that night, Chang had blamed the gang for the killing of his brother because he left the gang and in retaliation they had reason to harm his brother. After finishing lunch both Michael and Layla went back to work and the rest of the crew went back home with Chang following in his car.
On our way home, waiting at the light of Clark Ave. and Del Amo Boulevard, we saw Pang Lang, head-leader of the Ying-Yang Norwalk City-Gang in his 2013 Dodge SRT Viper. It was the ride that was off the hook with an 8.4-liter all-aluminum, V-10 overhead-valve engine that delivered a total of 640 HP, 600 lo-fi of torque, and estimated speeds of 206mph. It also had that look of black metallic color with a red racing stripe. That’s when I looked over at Adam and Mike and knew that the situation has gotten worse.
We all ended up at Uncle Jay with the Highlander twins and Mary-Ann meeting us there to talk more about the situation that was going to be bad if not deadly for ether Chang or the gang itself. Adam also tried to talk some sense into Chang to leave the LBC and go back to USC but he wouldn’t have it ether way and said that this was for the sake of his brother and his family. As we were standing there and figuring out what to do next, Andrew runs into the shop from the office and yells out, “Guys, local BREAKING NEWS coming in on TV…Come quick!!”
As we all rushed into Uncle Jay’s office and set our eyes on the TV screen, it was clear by the shock in our faces “BREAKING NEWS: Shooting at Lakewood’s DI store.” The reporter was saying that 9-1-1 calls were and still are coming out and stating that four Asian guys walked into the store and shot up the place, as people ran out from the DI’s doors; while others outside called 9-1-1 to report it.
We all rushed to our cars and scrambled back to Lakewood as fast as we could hoping that everyone there, especially Layla and Michael, were alive and made it out okay. I must say, for everyone in that car ride back up, that was the longest 21-minutes ride ever. These friends were my family.
We got to the scene of mayhem where police had blocked off most of Clark Ave. We didn’t know where to go or what to do next. Porter said that we should park the cars and try to walk and get as close as we could. After five minutes, we couldn’t find Michael or Layla anywhere as we were 150 yards from the front doors. As we stood there in awe, everyone around us was in shock or dying to know the outcome of others that were stuck inside.
A few minutes later, Peter tried calling Layla’s cell to see if she would pick up. Peter only reached the answering machine. We grew discouraged thinking something may have happened to her. Now Peter tried calling Michael’s cell. Three rings then Michael picked up. He sounded tired and was breathing heavily. It was apparent that something was very wrong.
Michael said that Layla was shot in the mid left section of her body from a stray bullet. As he was trying to stop the bleeding we heard the shooters in the background trying to figure out their next move and how many hostages they had to bargain for an escape route out.
Michael had the phone between his knees while applying pressure to Layla’s gunshot wound and trying to talk at the same time. He was waiting for the shooters to leave that section of the store. Michael said Pang Lang was one of four that were shooting up the place. Also with him were Paul Nokokasi, second-in-command; Yoou Ling, Paul’s cousin; and Nick Tsu, Pang’s cousin.
Michael was trying to figure out what to do. Luckily the bullet had gone completely through Layla, but she wouldn’t be out of the woods until she was safely in a hospital.
Minutes later, SWAT came in and went to work of trying to calm the situation down. We could see workstation that the Long Beach Police Department and SWAT began to strategize of how to either go in and take them out or talk them into surrendering. SWAT and LBPD began to plan out the ins and outs of the situation.
Chang told us then and there that he knew that either way this goes, Pang will die trying before he comes out killing him, because Chang knew that Pang had something else, something bigger than this moment of just being the head of a gang wanting revenge on Chang.
After minutes, which seemed like forever, a phone call came over to where the workstation was and SWAT picked up. It sounded like they were trying to make small talk to stall the shooters. After the call ended with one officer, a few of the other officers began scrambling.
All of a sudden a call came over Chang’s phone and when he picked up, it was Nick Tsu calling to demand to meet face to face and pay the consequences for blaming the gang for the death of his brother, Tang. Arguments were beginning to flare up and soon enough a shout-out started! After that call, the phone rang again and it was the police asking to see him. They didn’t know that Chang was already there and waiting for the outcome of this holdup.
We stood there just a few feet away as Officer Gary Pullman asked what relation Chang had with the gang or with Pang Lang himself. As we stood there watching them speak, Peter’s phone rang; it was Michael on the other side! He said that something was going down, it didn’t look good and it would be big. Peter than asked about Layla and Michael said that she is staying awake but was in-and-out of it. Michael stated that Pang brought in bags after they shot out a few display windows in front. At that moment we knew that it could be any assortment of guns, shotguns, ammunition.
We then relayed our assumptions to the police and SWAT, but they said they had other things to worry about. The Police force questioned our trust in Michael; saying that he could be one of them and that’s when Mike and Adam conveyed in them to trust Michael and to their dismay Officer Pullman said that Michael was their only direct source on the floor of the situation because there were no cameras in the store. They did, however, put a team on the roof to see if they could see or hear anything from inside. That’s when they received a call over the switchboard that they made it on the roof and they had sent out the remote control car with a camera on it inside the cooling ducts that run over throughout the store.
Minutes later, we got the call that they had something coming in on the camera from the front of the store. They also told us that something big going to happen and they should move everyone far away. They sent both the LBPD with its 60 officers and SWAT to scramble mode to get people away from the 150-yards too at least 220-yards.
We were safe behind the SWAT mobile and after minutes went by we were waiting for something as officers waited behind their cars with guns and shotguns drawn, ready for the next step.
All of a sudden, that parking lot became chaos as smoke-bombs came shooting out; there were at least eight to twelve canisters that flew out the windows and sooner or later the lot became too unbearable to inhale that smoke. Then came the unwanted shootout. First to come out were Paul Nokokasi and Yoou Ling. They came through the display windows with masks on and what looked like bulletproof vests, while shooting at least hundreds rounds from their shotguns, 4 nine-millimeter hand-guns, and more smoke bombs as they met and ran towards the front end of a getaway 1968 Chevy Camaro muscle car, that belongs to Paul. Seconds later, Pang Lang and Nick Tsu were right behind them and just like that within less than two minutes, they all rushed out, both Nick and Pang climbed into the 2013 Dodge Viper and the two cars sped off while everyone was still recovering from those smoke bombs. Police did have a helicopter waiting nearby to follow them.
As the cars sped off trying to escape the shopping center, four to six LBPD cop cars tried to trap them but could not move fast enough. The getaway cars exited into the sidewalk, busted through bushes, and onto Candlewood Street and Lakewood Boulevard heading North on Lakewood. Speeds got up to 70mph on that mile of road, weaving in and out of traffic toward CA-91 (known to most of the locals as Artesia Freeway).
Adam, Andrew, and I stayed put to hear the chase on the switchboard and see the action on television news from KNBC-4 and other news station that were following it to which it was typical in this city to watch chases on TV. We also wanted to see what would happen and become of the four, and while we set attention to what was transpiring live; Chang and the rest of the crew ran rushing into the DI store to see if Michael and Layla were okay.
As we watched on TV, the cars reached the freeway and headed west on Artesia Freeway. As cop cars followed the bandits with news and police choppers flying overhead, speeds exceeded 90’s as the police yelled into the megaphone at the automobiles. The chase went through major traffic, due to the time of day. We saw them weaving in-and-out of traffic, passing at speeds of 85mph through exits or streets of Paramount Boulevard, Cherry Avenue, Orange Avenue, and Atlantic Avenue as if they were in some kind of an arcade race. The chase got up to the intersection of ramps onto the North-South of I-710, also known as Long Beach Freeway and just like that with no slow-downs the Dodge Viper and the Chevy Camaro led the six trailing cop cars right behind them!
As soon as they knew they were off the ramp and onto the interstate, uncontrollable speeds were nothing for these two cars as they accelerated to more than 100 mph! For the next twenty minutes the chase ran through the cities of East Compton, Cudahy, and Bell Gardens, until they reached northeast Los Angeles to head onto West-Eastbound I-10, also known as San Bernardino Freeway heading west.
Before they got to eastern LA, the LAPD gave aid in helping the LBPD stop Pang and his gang. The tires on the Camaro and Viper were punctured at the Florence Ave exit, but did not rupture because Pang had planned for this to happen and had put extra thread on the tires. Spikes were set up again on the Atlantic Boulevard and Washington Boulevard exits. By the time they got to Pomona Freeway and even before they got to head west onto San Bernardino Freeway the tires on both the Camaro and Viper were all but flat and came to a complete stop, while being trapped with both the LBPD and the LAPD, handguns drawn on them. As Adam, Andrew, and I watched on TV, the four men were forced to surrender.
By 3:15pm, Layla came out on a stretcher with Michael who seemed to still be shaken by what has transpired moments ago. All of us, including Chang, went to the Long Beach Memorial Hospital and stayed there until the doctors came out of surgery.
At 8:28pm, Doctor Lloyd P. O’Hara came out into the waiting room. We were with the whole gang; our group had grown with Michael, the Forgotty Family, and Uncle Jay. Dr. O’Hara informed us that Layla will be okay and no major damage was done to any of her organs. This was the best news of our day!
At that moment, my dad came into the waiting room, standing facing me while everyone behind me looked on. He stood staring for a while and all he could think of saying was, “Thanks for cleaning my nightstand!!” and gave me a hug. At that moment I knew then that family was still around. My father was not the emotional type. I had wondered where his mind had been the last few months, but at that moment I didn’t have a worry about him while he stood and hugged me.
I later found out, from Polean, that my dad ran home to see if I was home and he called Adam to see if I was with them when he heard on the news that a shooting at DI. He knew we had to be part of it. After that we all went to Lili’s and ate there while Peter and Porter stayed behind to stay with Layla.
While we were there at Lili’s, Pam made a toast with a Coke can and told everyone sitting at the 20-chair table. She looked over and said to my dad how it’s good to see the Orange County’s own Speedway Champion and to have him back to the LBC to where he belongs.
Sunday 12:45 a.m. we reached our home. While sitting in my room, my Dad came in and said he wished he had been more comforting and supportive the last few months. He promised me from that moment that he’d be there whenever I needed him. After that he said goodnight and walked out.
1:00am found me snoring as “Crossroads” by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony played, dreaming about my mom and the future life I would have with my father.
Written by: Junior F.
Edited by: Aaron C.
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