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'We lost a brother': Ominous warnings, then a gunfight

Amber Hunt, Dan Horn, and Sharon Coolidge
Cincinnati
Students Luis Del Moral (back), 15, of Sycamore, and Connor Jones (front), 19, of Williamstown, Ky., grieve after a scheduled training session on a bench outside of Japanese Karate-Do Dojo in Symmes Twp. Saturday. Del Moral, a student of fallen police officer and Sensei Sonny Kim for 10 years, and Jones a student of Kim's for 15 years, honored their mentor by attending his scheduled workout Saturday morning.

The call came in at 9:03 a.m. Friday – an urgent description of a belligerent man with a gun.

Seven minutes later, a second call followed, and after that, the normally peaceful intersection of Roe Street and Whetsel Avenue in Madisonville descended into chaos.

When it was over, Cincinnati Police Officer Sonny Kim – a decorated and well-liked cop of 27 years – was dead. The father of three wasn't supposed to be on duty Friday, but he'd been tapped to work overtime in a city that's combating an uptick in crime.

Also killed was 21-year-old suspect Trepierre Hummons, who police said made those 911 calls on himself while pretending to be a simple bystander. He wanted to die at an officer's hand, Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell said, and had even texted friends about his plan.

Hummons left what appears to be a farewell message on his public Facebook page that read: "I love every last one of y'all to whoever has been in my life ... you're the real mvp." The time stamp on the message was 8:55 a.m.

While the events leading up to Kim and Hummons' deadly meeting Friday are still being sorted, the aftermath is clear: Kim became the first Cincinnati officer killed in the line of duty since 2000, and Hummons, the 29th civilian killed by an officer since then.

The incident left a usually quiet neighborhood – one dotted with churches and filled with children who feel safe playing in their front yards – on edge.

It left friends of Hummons confused and angry, yelling at officers at the scene and condemning police on social media.

And it left a police department in mourning for a decorated officer that Blackwell called "one of our best."

"We lost a brother today," Blackwell said. "Our hearts are broken."

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Ominous warnings, then a gunfight

Trepierre Hummons

The seeds of the confrontation may have been planted just after midnight Friday, about nine hours before the shooting started. Police say that's when a woman filed a sex offense report against Hummons.

Hummons' mother would later tell police her son was having trouble with his girlfriend and wasn't behaving like himself. Early that morning, he'd sent an ominous text message to friends: "I really love you and thank you for all you've ever done for me."

Hummons was no stranger to police. He spent three months in juvenile detention four years ago, when he was 17, after robbing a man's home at gunpoint and then stealing his car. His adult record included numerous traffic tickets and a disorderly conduct charge.

Police said he also was a member of the Clutch Gang, which operates in Madisonville.

His mother, though, just wanted to find her son. She went looking for him sometime before 9 a.m. and found him in the street, shortly before Kim arrived.

As Hummons approached Kim, police say, Hummons' mother stood between the two men and told Kim, "I'll take him home." Then her son drew his gun. And Kim - who was wearing an armored vest - drew his.

A map of where the shooting occurred.

Hummons shot Kim multiple times and, soon after, wrestled away the officer's Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handgun, police say. He then began shooting at a probation officer who had stopped to assist on his way to work.

Another police officer, Tom Sandmann, came under fire as soon as he arrived on the scene. While Hummons' mother tried to help the dying Kim in the street, her son turned Kim's gun on Sandmann and began firing, police say.

Sandmann took cover behind his car, returned fire and fatally wounded Hummons.

Then came the frantic radio calls.

"Attention all cars and departments," the dispatcher said. "Officer down."

From South Korea to Cincinnati

Officer Sonny Kim

Kim, 48, was a South Korea-born immigrant who came to the United States in 1973. Raised in Chicago, he moved to Cincinnati in 1986, Blackwell said.

Two years later, he joined the city police force, where he earned 22 commendations over the years and was praised in 2012 by the U.S. Department of Justice for his service.

He had another love, too: karate. In March 2014, he dovetailed his two passions during an interview with the online karate magazine The Shotokan Way.

"As a police trainer, we have a saying which is: 'You will perform how you train,'" Kim told the magazine. "The point I want to make is you must also train your karate under pressure, consistently and physically hard, to have a better chance to overcome and survive under duress."

But as seriously as he took his training, his friends on the force said Kim was best known as a fun guy.

"He was always joking around," said Cincinnati Police Sgt. Stephen Hoerst. "We were just at the range with him the other day. Afterward, you have to clean your gun and he was joking around like, 'I'll buy your lunch if you clean my gun.'"

His fellow officers called him Bruce Lee, but with a caveat: "Bruce Lee is all serious, and he was a complete cut-up," Hoerst said.

On Friday, though, those who knew him, and many who didn't, remembered Kim as a hero.

"If you want to kill yourself, do it, but you can't take one of our men with you," Mayor John Cranley said. "There is a deep injustice when people believe they can shoot at police officers.

"I pray for God's help to restore justice and to bring peace to the Kim family."

Shooting shatters neighborhood peace

When Jen Walters heard the noise, she couldn't quite place it.

Pop, pop, pop.

She thought maybe the mid-morning noise was construction work. Surely, it couldn't be gunfire. Neighborhood children were playing outside, and Walters' dog Scout and her nine chickens were puttering about her yard.

But then she heard sirens, and another round of pop, pop, pop. This time, Walters heard 10, maybe 20, in succession – followed by the panicked cries of children as they ran to a nearby apartment building for cover.

She watched as officers swarmed the scene, as ambulances arrived and as she and her neighbors were ordered to stay inside the homes.

"The officers who got here were crying," she said, her voice shaking.

Hummons' friends and family said they were stunned, too. Nadia Everage, Hummons' 22-year-old sister, said the allegations she's hearing don't jibe with the brother she knows.

"This whole incident, I'm in disbelief," said Everage.

Officers mourn fallen brother

Officers fought to save Kim's life on the street before he and Hummons were transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

There, dozens of police officers gathered outside in a steady rain. They hugged and comforted one another as they kept a somber vigil.

By noon, word that Kim had died was starting to spread, which Blackwell confirmed at a news conference a half-hour later.

"CPD lost one of its best today," he said. "We lost a brother, but right now my heart is broken more for his sons, who lost a father, and his wife, who lost a husband."

City Manager Harry Black said the city would honor Kim.

"This is a stark reminder that all jobs are not created equal," said Black, adding that police officers "have the courage and conviction to do what many of us might not be prepared to do – that is, to sacrifice their lives if necessary."

That hero's treatment began with the officers outside of the hospital. Even after Kim's death was announced, they stood together in the rain.

An ambulance pulled up to the hospital at about 1:15 p.m., nearly four hours after the shooting. Kim's body was loaded inside, and the officers snapped a silent salute.

Emotions were still raw hours later, when police gathered for a vigil outside District 2 police headquarters. About 200 people showed up, and some questioned whether the vigil should be for both Kim's family and Hummons' family.

In the end, religious leaders offered prayers for both.

Enquirer reporters: Henry Molski, Kevin Grasha, Emilie Eaton, Fatima Hussein, Jeanne Houck, Carrie Blackmore Smith, Cameron Knight