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Hey, it's Nancy. Before we begin today, I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Crime Beat early and ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime.
Earlier this season, I shared the devastating consequences of a feud between two rival gangs on the streets of Calgary. Dozens were killed in back-and-forth attacks as gang members targeted other gang members. But there were also several bystanders killed. He was just there at the wrong time, wrong place at the wrong time. He was innocent, for sure.
The widespread impact of the deadly conflict continues to be felt to this day. I'm Nancy Hixt. Today on Crime Beat, I share the story of one of the victims who became a casualty in a war he wasn't even involved in. This is Caught in the Crossfire. When putting together these stories, I spend days digging through archives of interviews and video.
One of those interviews was with a young woman whose brother was killed during one of Canada's deadliest gang wars. The conflict started in the early 2000s and hit a violent peak in 2009 when three people were killed at a restaurant on New Year's Day, including an innocent bystander.
Although much of the violence has subsided following several high-profile police operations aimed at disrupting gang activity, the war is still ongoing, with several recent shootings and a homicide just last summer.
You'll remember from the Crossfire series earlier this season, which covered the gang war in great detail, by mid-2005 there were already a handful of homicides. That included one on June 4th, when Soforn Kim caught a ride with friends following an event at the Max Bell Arena. The SUV he was riding in stopped at a red light.
Without warning, it was sprayed by a hail of bullets. Soforn was struck and died of his injuries. Police said he was not the intended target. His sister, MB Kim, spoke to me along with several other reporters at police headquarters just days after her brother was murdered. She bravely faced a wall of cameras and spoke about what happened. Just...
A couple of my friends called me because he wasn't answering his phone. I went down because I heard there was another drive-by shooting because my friend drove by and it was a CRV and I'd known that his friend drove a CRV. So I went down and I found, that's how I found out. As I went through archival footage of the gang war, I found her interview and wondered how she was doing all these years later.
Then, unexpectedly, I received a message on social media. You really stuck out to me when I did that press conference. I don't know what it was, maybe because I've seen you on TV multiple times and it was always like, oh, I know who she is. You know, she was there when my brother passed away and I was listening to your podcast and
It was always in the back of my head. I wonder if she remembers my brother's case. And then it was just weird out of the blue. I'm like, I should just reach out to her. MB Kim contacted me and asked if I would share details of her brother's story. Like I have kids now and I just want them to grow up knowing what kind of brother he was, you know, and that's,
I do always bring up my son is a lot like my brother Safforn. So, you know, the relationship we have together, sometimes I get pretty like, it just shocks me where I look at him. Just like certain things he'll say to me and our relationship are very similar. This is the first time MB has told this story to a journalist. It all started in the early 70s in Cambodia.
Civil war had broken out. The Khmer Rouge reigned from 1975 to 1979 with a ruthlessness that left an estimated 2 million Cambodians dead from famine, sickness, forced labor and execution. Ambie said her parents were one of the lucky ones. My parents survived all that and they...
Their oldest son was born in 1981. Next was Soforn, born in 1983.
A year later, they arrived in Canada, specifically northeast Calgary, where Embi was born and raised. So they immigrated here in 1984. And it was like my dad said, they didn't know any English, didn't know how to get around, which is amazing to me because of where they are now in their lives.
My dad's really open. He's an open book about talking about this stuff. My mom, on the other hand, she does not mention anything. It's very, she's very closed about it. But, you know, like my dad has seen some crazy stuff. And he's also said, you know, these camps weren't very good as well. You know, some of the Thai soldiers treated them even worse than what the Khmer Rouge did to them as well. Yeah.
And yeah, that's their story. And I remember he told me that he got malaria and there was a Red Cross nurse that saved him. And her name was Nurse Embi. So that's how I got my name. Moving to Canada came with some difficulties for her family that included facing cultural differences. And they felt homesick, missing family and friends back in Cambodia.
a lot of intergenerational trauma. I would say, I don't know, these are just from my experiences, but from what I could see is a lot of parents who've come here from Cambodia had a lot of trauma during the war, which I think they brought here. Not even just them, but maybe kids that were born in Cambodia or born in the refugee camps. I think they were exposed to
whatever that was going on over there. And then you bring them here, of course, there's going to be a lot of, there's language barriers, you know, and from what I've heard, some of them didn't even have ESL, you know, so...
They didn't even know how to read or write. Embi said her parents worked hard to learn a new language and improve their communication skills. And they also worked long hours in a kitchen as cooks to save and provide for their family. I think they were just getting about $500 a month, maybe, from the government. And they got put into...
houses. I don't even know what they were called, but it was an apartment building full of other Cambodians. And that's how we all ended up growing up together, I guess. Eventually, Ambie's father became a beloved cook at a popular Calgary restaurant and worked there for 22 years before he retired a few years ago.
Embi told me he was well known for his mushroom soup and he made a special fried rice for all staff every Friday. But she was quick to add that her mom is the true cook and everyone in the family looks forward to her meals. You know, I love my parents more than anything. Like, I'm surrounded by very good people in my life. And I'm very grateful that I have them. And I'm so grateful for my parents for how far they've come.
and how humble they are. And not a lot of people get to have that in their lives. But that is something that I'm very thankful for. The family was rebuilding a life in Canada. Then came further struggles for her brother. Safforn always had
I guess with like his health, he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. I think back when he was about 11 or 12 years old, it was pretty severe. Like his intestines were pretty inflamed.
And after years of trying different things out to try to help him with his Crohn's, nothing seemed to help. So he had surgery, I think, at the age of 14 or 15 to get a colostomy bag. And he developed severe depression around then. At one point, Embi said Soforn went to a special camp so he could learn to cope with the diagnosis.
He came back and he was a different person. He was very happy. He made friends. And that was how, I guess that's when he started becoming who he really wanted to be. It was crazy because, you know, like him going through his groans and being severely depressed to having, I guess, some life in him, wanting to be who he was. He was crazy.
working at that time too and I remember he was getting promoted to become a supervisor whatever he was doing and we were all happy for him but you know he was he was ready to take on what he wanted to take on from having such a really rough childhood to being open to living again
The family continued to set roots in Calgary. But before long, their lives would be ripped apart. Embi said as she and her brother Soforn got older, some of the neighborhood kids they grew up with and were friends with became involved in gangs. I think being so young, you don't really see it. But yet you kind of know, but you don't know. But yet because they're your friends...
you still want to hang out with them and you know like my parents moved away from Radisson like we grew up in Radisson until I was probably about 10 years old because of the lifestyle and the crowd of people my brothers were starting to get involved with and I didn't see that at that time you know I was really upset because I got pulled away from a lot of my friends moving into
For some added context, the neighborhood Embi is referring to is an older one in northeast Calgary.
Police have told me that prior to the formation of the FK and FOB gangs, the members were friends from North and Southeast Calgary who grew up together, went to school together or had ties through their cultural backgrounds, like Embi and some of her Cambodian friends.
It was in the early 2000s that the group of friends had a falling out and split into warring gangs. She said her parents noticed changes in the neighborhood they didn't like and moved them to a suburb for a fresh start. And of course, for all that to happen, my brother still gets caught in something that they were trying to get us out of.
Embi said a lot of this behind-the-scenes drama was unbeknownst to her. And that's how police believe her brother ended up in a vehicle with someone who was being targeted by one of the gangs. Her brother was one of several innocent victims who were hit in the crossfire during an escalating gang war.
She was friends with a group of people hit in another hail of bullets almost three years after her brother's death in October of 2008. That group was caught in the carnage while celebrating a birthday at a Calgary restaurant. Tina Kong and Kevin Sess were killed, and Sarath Kuhn was hit in the spine, leaving him an L1 paraplegic. The community was in crisis.
We knew Sarath. Like, we know his family. I know Kevin Seth's family. I know of Tina. I've met Tina through some of the surroundings around her. So because she was hanging out with other Cambodians. And of course, because of our commonality there, we all just hung out. Embi said the gang war was taking a toll on her.
I just became paranoid of whoever I was hanging out with. It could be anybody. She was only 19 years old when her brother was killed. There's lots of memories, but you know, he was, he's very funny. He always made me laugh. As we grew up, he wasn't the nicest brother, I would say. He was pretty mean to me when we were younger. But as we grew up, we became pretty close friends.
And we were kind of inseparable for a couple of years before he passed away. And I think it was more because of all the, there was a lot that happened in our lives around that time. Family-wise, sorry, getting emotional talking about this because I think at that time in my life, it was a very hard time. And we just kind of,
Soforn's homicide is one of many from that time period that remains unsolved. Police told me they still believe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and not the target of the shooting.
Yeah, I think we're under the same belief here that he got into the back of the vehicle that we know that vehicle arrived earlier to the event at Mack's Bell and there was other people in the vehicle that were likely the targets of the shooting. Unfortunately,
He's now in the vehicle after the event. We believe it was targeted. And unfortunately, he was in that backseat where the offenders may have thought somebody else was in the intended target.
That's veteran officer Sean Gregson, the staff sergeant of the Calgary Police Homicide Unit. He told me Soforn's case is still active with the cold case team. We have some of our most experienced investigators working within that unit and they continue to look at the files that have been around for a while with a new set of eyes and looking at other areas we can investigate.
And a lot of times technology works in our favor with advances surrounding some of the techniques we can use. And then we'll look at different investigations. One of the issues with the FOB-FK gang war is the code of silence on both sides. There were a few players who turned on their friends and helped push several cases forward. But others, including Soforn's, remain unsolved.
Back around this time, there was a lot of back and forth violence between the two groups. And in some cases, some of our known suspects did end up victims on the other side. And then it makes it hard to really solve it when we can't lay charges. And sometimes we can update the families. In other cases, we don't have quite enough information.
to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. Staff Sergeant Gregson said he's not able to share any information beyond the original details that I highlighted at the beginning of the episode, released nearly 20 years ago. Yeah, it's still an open investigation, so I can't speak to too many details regarding it. And at some point, when we get some more information and it comes forward, then that can really...
kickstart the investigation back into it. And we know that there's people out there that have information regarding this. And maybe they're, like I said, were reluctant to come forward in the past. Well, maybe now's the time to come forward because this is somebody's child, brother, and had some friends out there. So they do deserve justice to find out what happened. In the years since Soforn's death, MBIE has stopped focusing on an arrest in the case.
Instead, she's tried to find peace and closure for herself and her family. I'm lucky enough to have gone to therapy and I'm still doing therapy to, I guess, be more aware of my day-to-day living so I don't have to deal with the anxiety that comes with the trauma.
There's always a small part of her that hopes someone who knows something will come forward to spark a break in the case all these years later. It leaves her conflicted. On one hand, she still wants answers, but someone being held responsible means reopening the wounds all over again. I thought about that often, but, you know, even if somebody was to get charged,
Now, like it's been almost 18 years. It doesn't matter to me as much as it did. Or I don't think it because it doesn't bring my brother back. Right. So at this point, I don't think I really care who did it as much because it's
Like, it's done. Like, he's not here anymore. She said listening to the recent Crime Beat series about the gang war and watching the TV episode was more difficult than she expected. I basically was back there. That's what it felt like.
Seeing the scene again, driving on Memorial and seeing all the cop cars that were at the Max Bell area. And that's probably the main vision that popped up in my head when I saw myself and seeing the CRV. Yeah, it was just everything at that time came back to me. So there was a lot of emotions.
The loss of Sophorn has left a void in her family that will never be filled. He was very charismatic, a fun-loving guy. And he was always there for anybody that needed something. You know, he'd make it a priority and make sure everybody around him was taken care of. But he was also very funny. That was something that I think everybody can say about him.
You know, there's one thing that I can't let go and it plays in my head over and over is my mom. My mom and her cries. And to hear a mother cry like that, it haunts you. She's found solace in sharing Soforn's story and her family's journey with me.
Behind each of the cases I share on Crime Beat are people like Embiid who carry the weight and know the true impact of crime. If you or anyone you know has information that can help solve Soforn Kim's case, please contact Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or calgarycrimestoppers.org.
Crime Beat is written and produced by me, Nancy Hixt, with producer Dila Velasquez. Audio editing and sound design is by Rob Johnston. Special thanks to photographer-editor Danny Lantella for his work on this episode. And thanks to Chris Bassett, the VP of Network Content, Production and Distribution and Editorial Standards for Global News.
I would love to have you tell a friend about this podcast, and you can help me share these important stories by rating and reviewing Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. You can find me on Twitter at Nancy Hixt, on Facebook at Nancy Hixt Crime Beat, and on Instagram at nancy.hixt. That's N-A-N-C-Y dot H-I-X-T. Thanks again for listening. Please join me next time.
