Murder charge in shooting of Evergreen liquor store owner
SAN JOSE >> The man accused of killing popular Evergreen liquor-store owner Hieu “Charlie” Ly during a failed robbery last week previously shot his unarmed neighbor with a stolen gun but beat the attemptedmurder charge by claiming selfdefense, court records show.
Muniunmee Eliakim Hendrix, 21, of San Jose, has been charged with one count each of murder and attempted robbery, both with firearm enhancements, in Ly’s Aug. 7 slaying at the victim’s store near Quimby and White roads, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Hendrix is being held without bail at the Santa Clara County Main Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon.
According to police and Ly’s wife, who witnessed the shooting, a semi-masked man walked into the store just before 11 p.m. and demanded money. The man reportedly shot Ly when he refused to open the cash register.
Ly was memorialized in front of the store Friday in a vigil attended by more than 100 mourners who reflected a crosssection of the community, of all races and ages.
Hendrix was identified as a suspect in large part because
of his probation stemming from a Jan. 29, 2015 case where he shot a male neighbor with whom his family was feuding, according to court records and police reports.
San Jose police responded just after 11 p.m. that night to the 3200 block of Vernice Avenue, about a half mile from Story and South White roads, for reports of a shooting. A man was found with a serious gunshot wound in his abdomen.
At a neighboring home, where Hendrix was staying with relatives, he reportedly told police that he slept through the gunfire, but later relented and admitted to shooting the man, claiming the victim routinely threatened him and his family.
According to the police report, Hendrix said he opened fire when the victim “reached for his shirt.”
“Suspect Hendrix thought it was either … Him or me and pulled out his gun,” the report stated. “He raised the gun in his left hand and shot Victim in the stomach. Suspect Hendrix stated that he felt as though he needed to ‘put him down.’ “
The firearm Hendrix used, a Davis Industries P-32 palm-sized, small-caliber pistol, was reported stolen at the time of the shooting. Hendrix reportedly told officers he found the gun “in a park by Evergreen (Valley) College. He thought about turning it in but realized he probably would need it for protection.”
Hendrix was initially charged with attempted murder, but the case eventually ended with him pleading no contest to carrying a loaded stolen firearm in public.
“Additional evidence came to light during the prosecution,” reads a statement from the District Attorney’s Office in response to an inquiry by this news organization. “We were no longer able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self-defense.”
He was sentenced to a year in county jail but served no more than six months, court records show. Since that conviction, Hendrix has violated his probation several times, including this past January when he fled from a traffic stop in San Jose, and has been charged with multiple instances of battery on police officers by spitting or otherwise projecting bodily fluids on them.
Hendrix, who court records show was a validated gang member in the area, also has an extensive juvenile criminal history that was revealed in probation documents including with his adult court records that include burglary, auto theft and battery cases dating back to when he was 12 years old.