Store fight ends in death

A liquor store owner critically injured after an alleged shoplifter was accused of picking him up and throwing him to the ground has died, leading police to upgrade the crime from strong-arm robbery to homicide, authorities said Monday.

On Saturday afternoon, Hao “Tony” Quang Huynh, the Sportsman’s Liquor Store owner, confronted Weston Scott Kruger, 28, of Newport Beach, while the man was buying cigarettes. Huynh noticed the suspect had a pornographic magazine from the store stuffed under his T-shirt, police said.

Kruger ran out of the store and Huynh chased after him, according to police.

At 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds Kruger more than outweighed Huynh, who police described as 5-foot-3, 110 pounds. Kruger picked Huynh up and hurled him down, police said. Huynh suffered a major head injury that he later succumbed to Sunday afternoon at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

When Kareem Masarani and Jake Underwood, tattoo artists at neighboring Newport Tattoo, left their shop to see what was happening, they saw Huynh on the ground unconscious, still clutching pages torn from the magazine.

“His whole body was tight,” Masarani said.

“Tony was a cool guy. We saw him several times a day,” Masarani said as Underwood agreed. The two, who have worked at the tattoo shop for many years, recalled Huynh as a cordial, humorous friend.

“I used to always ask him when I bought my lottery tickets if this was the day,” Masarani said. “He would always tell me this one’s the one.”

“I can’t believe I won’t walk in there and see him anymore,” Newport Tattoo staffer Josh Davis said.

Nate Large, another employee at the tattoo parlor, went to the same high school as Kruger.

“I know what he did was wrong, but I never would have expected him to do that,” Large said.

Kruger was initially booked on suspicion of robbery and was being held at the Newport Beach Jail on a no-bail warrant. He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.