Store clerk shot during robbery dies after 17 years in coma

Han Woo Lee moved to central Pennsylvania in 2005 to join his family after serving two years in the Korean Army.

He already had two years of college under his belt and was eager to restart his education in the United States. He started studying engineering at Harrisburg Area Community College and worked at Kings Beauty Supplies in Harrisburg.

Lee, 24, had only been in Pennsylvania for a few months when an armed robber barged into the store during his shift on Jan. 6, 2006. The store owner decided to fight back.

That’s when the robber’s gun went off, firing a bullet into Lee’s head, destroying his promising future.

He spent the last 17 years in a coma in a Carlisle nursing home, with doctors saying he had no chance for a recovery. His parents visited him every day, except when they were prevented by the facility’s strict COVID-19 policy.

Without their regular visits, Lee’s health took a turn for the worse in recent years. He got bedsores that exposed his hip bone. His body couldn’t recover.

On March 11, at age 41, he died in the middle of the night, with his mother by his side. His family, including his two brothers, said goodbye during a funeral last week.

Han Woo Lee was active as a child and a young man, enjoying sports, including basketball, and greeting everyone he met with friendliness, according to his younger brother Han S. Lee.

Han Woo Lee stood out in his family as the gentlest child, the middle son, who avoided fights or violence of any kind, his brother said.

He started college in South Korea, but then had to put his education on hold to serve his country in the military as two years of service are mandatory.

His mother’s sister, who lived in Mount Holly Springs, invited their family to move to central Pennsylvania in the spring of 2004. His parents and older brother moved, but Han Woo Lee had to finish his military service. Once that was complete in the fall of 2005, he joined them in Mechanicsburg.

He could read and write English, as students in Korea are taught English, but Han Woo was still working on learning the spoken language. He wanted a degree in mechanical engineering and was interested in a career in the medical field, his brother said.

During his few months working at the beauty supply store, it had been robbed twice, according to court records. The first time, the store owner was alone, and she handed three teenage robbers about $300 from the cash registers.

When at least one of the same robbers returned a second time, on Jan. 3, 2006, Han Woo Lee was working with the store owner. This time, when one of the robbers, a 15-year-old with a gun, grabbed cash from a register, the store owner fought back.

She called out to Han Woo Lee for help, said his younger brother, so he tried to help her.

“She tried to keep the money,” Han S. Lee said. “She tried to stop them. He was scared. He had just gotten into the United States. He was so scared.”

The gun fired twice: once into the store owner’s arm and once into Han Woo Lee. Then the two robbers fled.

“It was such a tragedy,” Han S. Lee said. The store had about $200 at the time.

At first, the wounded Han Woo Lee showed signs of consciousness in the hospital, his brother said. Upon request, he could make a fist. He seemed to understand what people were saying to him.

“We were hopeful,” his younger brother said. “We thought he could be fine.”

But continued bleeding in his brain required surgery. Afterward, the doctors told them there “was no hope,” his younger brother said.

A decision to stop feeding Han Woo Lee through a feeding tube, or allowing him to die, was theirs to make, his brother said. But Han Woo Lee’s body was young and healthy, he could breathe on his own, and his parents didn’t want to give up on him.

Over the years, Han Woo Lee would open his eyes at times or move his limbs. Doctors said the movements likely were reactive and not indicative of intention by Han Woo Lee, who remained in a vegetative state.

His parents kept their son clean shaven with regular haircuts and they frequently moved his body in his bed to avoid pressure sores. His younger brother regularly visited too.

In 2020, the nursing home cut off visits to slow the spread of COVID19. When Han Woo Lee’s family was allowed back inside last year, Han Woo Lee looked worse and had bed sores, his brother said. As his pain increased in recent months, his family put him on comfort care with morphine, knowing he would pass away soon.

His death was ruled a homicide, from the gunshot wound he suffered back in 2006.

No new charges can be brought against the gunman, Jaquan M. Moore, now 32. As part of a plea agreement 17 years ago, prosecutors said they would not pursue additional charges upon Han Woo Lee’s death. In exchange, Moore would plead guilty to aggravated assault in adult court for the shooting.

Moore also pleaded guilty to robbing the same store a few months prior to the one that ended in bloodshed. He was given a sentence of 15 years up to 30 years, as part of the deal.

At his sentencing, prosecutors said they knew that Han Woo Lee was “not going to recover from his wounds.”

Prosecutor Sean McCormack said he sat down with families for the store owner and Lee and both were “100% in agreement” with the plea deal.

Moore’s attorney had insisted that his client not be charged again in the future if Lee died, McCormack said, adding that it “was a longtime sticking point.” McCormack noted among the evidence they had against Moore were his fingerprints in a portion of the cash register “that only somebody that worked at the store would have gotten their fingerprints on.”

Moore’s co-defendant pleaded guilty to participating in the first robbery in juvenile court but was not a co-defendant in the second robbery.

In all, Moore pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, three counts of robbery, and four other charges.

Han Woo Lee’s family chose not to attend the sentencing, McCormack said at the hearing, but “want Mr. Moore to understand that despite their injuries and despite their loss…They want Mr. Moore to know they have forgiven him and wish him well. They hope when he is finished with his sentence, that he will come out and that this is something that will not be part of his character and that he will learn from.”

McCormack said the Lee family wanted to address Moore’s family too, who also was “losing their son for at least 15 years.”

“They felt very sad for

Jaquan’s family and for Jaquan himself and they wanted me to express that to the court,” McCormack said.

Judge John Cherry said he couldn’t “even contemplate the forgiveness those people have. I can’t even. There are no words for it.”

Cherry noted that the case bore tragic similarities to the shooting of another

South Korean store clerk 10 years prior who also ended up in a vegetative state: Chong Ho Kwak, a 51-yearold Allison Hill grocer who was shot in the head during a robbery in February 1996. He died in 2011 from his injuries. The gunman in that case, who was 14 at the time of the crime, got a 35-year to life sentence that he is still serving.

Moore got credit for time served from the date of his arrest in early 2006. After 12 years, he was paroled in August 2018.

He returned to prison in September 2021 as a parole violator after being arrested in Harrisburg in possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia. He was paroled again March 9, 2022, and remains free.