Salinas business owner killed in suspected robbery Friday morning

A Salinas business owner was found shot to death inside his car Friday morning in an incident that deputies believe is connected to a spate of robberies.

Deputies say the man’s wife found him in the car at Creekside Drive and Old Reservation Road, just after 7 a.m.

Sam Oh said the victim was his boss at the More or Less 99 Cent Store in Salinas, which the victim owned.

Oh said he’s a family friend who has known the victim for about 10 years.

He is not being named at this time.

Oh said the man was well-known in the tight-knit local Korean community and was active in his church. He leaves behind a wife, children and grandchildren.

“A whole bunch of things raced through my mind, especially when his wife called me this morning,” Oh told NewsChannel 5. “I was trying to piece everything, I was in shock too. She was telling me one thing then another thing… It was really shocking to hear what she was saying.”

Oh said the man’s wife called him and told him her husband had been shot. He said she was panicked and crying.

“I feel really sad, as well as I’m happy that he was a believer of christ so he’s up in heaven right now,” said Oh. “It’s really sad for someone like him to pass away because he was really wise , really well-educated.”

Oh said from what he’s been told, the man complied with everything the gunman told him to do, but the suspect shot him in the head anyways.

“It’s hard -knowing that he’s not going to come in later today to check up on me is going to be sad,” Oh said. “I will definitely miss that guy. Working for him like nine years definitely gave me a lot of wisdom and a lot of stuff to think about. He was a wonderful guy.”

Monterey County sheriff’s deputies believe the same suspect or suspects that killed the business owner also are responsible for at least two other robberies that occurred Friday morning. A pair of men walking to work in Castroville were robbed and one was shot in the stomach. A high school student waiting for a bus in Castroville also was robbed.

Deputies said Friday afternoon that they had a 19-year-old man in custody in connection with these incidents. His name has not yet been released.