By Jim Guy
The Fresno Bee (California, USA)
12/11/06
The shooting lasted only seconds, but the consequences were costly and long-term.
The gunfire left Phillip So, 25, wounded in the abdomen, his girlfriend, 23, grazed in the face by a bullet and a 9-year-old girl with a gunshot in the arm.
All because a boy, 15, spit in a pot of soup So's mother Thol Sok, 57, was cooking in southeast Fresno. That prompted a scuffle, then a revenge shooting by the boy's 17-year-old brother, an alleged gang member. The gunman, Jeffrey Ruiz, is still at large in Mexico, according to Fresno police.
So spent two weeks in University Medical Center after the late September shooting and still carries a bullet in his side. The stay cost $46,000, he said, and was paid for by a state program.
But So said he is out $1,600 in tuition since he had to drop classes at California State University, Fresno, and another $3,000 because he couldn't work at his job as a cook in Sanger. He may be eligible for help with those bills through a state restitution program.
The emotional cost of the triple shooting is harder to tally — things like the mental image So carries of counting nine gunshots and staring at the gunman as his semi-automatic pistol clicked on an empty chamber.
"I was in shock," he said, adding that he has moved forward and isn't interested in revenge.
"The first two days I thought that way, but on the third day, I said, 'Why am I [angry]? It's time to move on with my education.' I realized there is no point in holding a grudge."
So says he received strong emotional support from his family, who came from Cambodia in the late 1970s. Living through the war years in Southeast Asia helped to harden them, he said.
"My dad is happy that I'm alive," he said. "My mom has been through a lot in Cambodia, so it didn't scare her."
He is concerned about how the shootings affected his girlfriend, who asked not to be identified.
"She went through a lot of trauma," he said. "[But] all the time I was in the hospital, she was there for me."
The bullet in his side remains a reminder of that day for So. Doctors told him that removing it might be more risky than leaving it.
"On a cold day, I can feel where it is," So said recently as he sat with friends at Fresno State.
The reporter may be reachedat jguy@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6339.
The gunfire left Phillip So, 25, wounded in the abdomen, his girlfriend, 23, grazed in the face by a bullet and a 9-year-old girl with a gunshot in the arm.
All because a boy, 15, spit in a pot of soup So's mother Thol Sok, 57, was cooking in southeast Fresno. That prompted a scuffle, then a revenge shooting by the boy's 17-year-old brother, an alleged gang member. The gunman, Jeffrey Ruiz, is still at large in Mexico, according to Fresno police.
So spent two weeks in University Medical Center after the late September shooting and still carries a bullet in his side. The stay cost $46,000, he said, and was paid for by a state program.
But So said he is out $1,600 in tuition since he had to drop classes at California State University, Fresno, and another $3,000 because he couldn't work at his job as a cook in Sanger. He may be eligible for help with those bills through a state restitution program.
The emotional cost of the triple shooting is harder to tally — things like the mental image So carries of counting nine gunshots and staring at the gunman as his semi-automatic pistol clicked on an empty chamber.
"I was in shock," he said, adding that he has moved forward and isn't interested in revenge.
"The first two days I thought that way, but on the third day, I said, 'Why am I [angry]? It's time to move on with my education.' I realized there is no point in holding a grudge."
So says he received strong emotional support from his family, who came from Cambodia in the late 1970s. Living through the war years in Southeast Asia helped to harden them, he said.
"My dad is happy that I'm alive," he said. "My mom has been through a lot in Cambodia, so it didn't scare her."
He is concerned about how the shootings affected his girlfriend, who asked not to be identified.
"She went through a lot of trauma," he said. "[But] all the time I was in the hospital, she was there for me."
The bullet in his side remains a reminder of that day for So. Doctors told him that removing it might be more risky than leaving it.
"On a cold day, I can feel where it is," So said recently as he sat with friends at Fresno State.
The reporter may be reachedat jguy@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6339.
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