Cambodian Americans gathered at Wat Khmer Temple near downtown Los Angeles on Sunday to celebrate the New Year, kneeling in prayer before a Buddha statue, dancing to a traditional live band and serving fish soup and noodles to the orange-clad monks.
On the same day in Long Beach, survivors of the killing fields held a vigil at a local park to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the start of the brutal communist Khmer Rouge regime that took the lives of more than 1 million Cambodians.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday April 20, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 0 inches; 27 words Type of Material: Correction
Temple slaying -- An article in Tuesday's California section about a slaying at a Cambodian temple referred to the incident as a shooting. The victim was stabbed.
But just as the New Year's festival was coming to a close, a fight erupted outside the Los Angeles temple among a group of young Cambodian Americans. Elders, along with security guards, tried to break it up.
But when the altercation ended about 9 p.m., police said, 21-year-old Harry Yang was mortally wounded, stabbed multiple times.
"It looked like wartime," said Phan Eng, 31, who said he heard screams during Sunday's melee. "This celebration time is supposed to be happy. It is not supposed to be like that."
On Monday, the monks sat cross-legged in front of the Buddha statue and prayed for Yang and his family.
Steps away, Los Angeles Police Department detectives investigated the slaying. Officials said they were trying to determine a motive but believe local Asian gangs may have been involved. Police said a suspect was seen running from the temple, but no arrests had been made as of late Monday.
"There was a party and they were just celebrating and dancing, and someone lost their temper," said Los Angeles Police Det. Alan Solomon. "Over what, we don't know."
For Southern California's Cambodian community, the shooting punctuated an emotional few weeks in which its members have publicly debated how to both commemorate the solemn anniversary and celebrate the New Year.
The conflict divided the older generation, who believe April 17 should be a day of remembrance for the dead of the killing fields, and the younger generation, who did not experience the horrors of that time.
Roughly 28,000 people of Cambodian descent live in Los Angeles County, according to the U.S. Census, with the largest community in Long Beach. For the last four years, the community has held a New Year's celebration at El Dorado Park in Long Beach.
This year, Long Beach City Councilwoman Laura Richardson helped sponsor and plan an inaugural New Year's parade to be held the day after the festivities in the park. She and others proposed that the park festival be held April 16 and that the parade take place April 17.
