Photo: Sengchan Houl
LOS ANGELES – A fatal drive-by shooting had its day in court on December 5th, 2018 — and it wasn’t a long one. It took less than two hours for jurors to find Sengchan Houl, 37, guilty of one count of first-degree murder, two counts each of shooting at an occupied dwelling and negligent discharge of a firearm, and one count of shooting from a motor vehicle.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced yesterday that the Pomona man was sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole. Deputy District Attorney Lance Hansen of the Hardcore Gang Division said the panel also found true a special circumstance allegation that the murder was perpetrated by means of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle.
While driving his car on Feb. 20, 2017, Houl shot at a home on the 1100 block of West 11th Street in Pomona. That gunfire struck Jonah Hwang, 8, who later died from his injuries.
This wasn’t an isolated incident; the prosecutor found that Houl also shot at the same home on one occasion before the murder and then again twice after the murder.
