Pasadena : Youth Ordered to Trial

Tony Jung Kim, a Temple City High School football player accused of bludgeoning three people to death last year, has been ordered to stand trial for murder in Superior Court. Deputy Dist. Atty. Don Musich said Kim is scheduled to enter a plea to the charges on Feb. 20.

Kim, 18, had pleaded innocent at his juvenile court hearing last fall. He was 17 at the time of the killings, but was ordered to be tried as an adult.

Kim is accused of using a hammer to kill his friend and schoolmate, Jae Whah (Peter) Chung, 17, Chung’s brother, Jae Hung (John) Chung, 14, and the Chung boys’ grandmother, Bok Sil Kim, 58. The victims’ bodies were discovered in their Temple City-area home last Aug. 1.

Authorities allege that Kim went to the victims’ house to retrieve some football pads he had loaned to Peter Chung and that the two argued. Kim allegedly beat Chung with a hammer and killed his grandmother when she intervened, Musich said. Kim then allegedly waited for the younger Chung boy to return and killed him, Musich said.