Family, friends gather at Dallas karaoke bar to celebrate life of Jin Shin, demand justice

The family and friends of Jin Shin aren’t going to let anybody forget about his death.

Shin, 43, of Dallas, was shot and killed in Fort Worth in the early morning hours of Aug. 15, after a minor car accident while leaving a K-Pop event at Ampersand Coffee. One man, Markynn Dmorous West, 28, of Fort Worth, has been arrested and charged with murder.

Video of the incident showed a group of people surround Shin, punch him in the back of the head and take his car keys before he was killed, according to West’s arrest warrant. Those who knew and cared about Shin said they won’t rest until the other seven people in the video are arrested, charged and convicted in connection to his death.

Fort Worth police said the investigation is ongoing and that it is possible charges will be filed against other people. There are no plans for additional charges against West.

West’s attorney, Lesa Pamplin, said West reasonably feared for his life and acted in self defense and she is hoping he will get to testify before a grand jury.

A spokesperson for the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office said the office does not comment on pending cases.

According to the arrest warrant, police reviewed a video of the incident. Leading up to the shooting, Shin veered away from his Jeep and at least three people opened the door of the Jeep and leaned into it, the video showed. It was later determined that someone took Shin’s keys from the vehicle.

Shin continued to keep his distance from the group of people, some of whom were called to the scene by others involved in the accident, police have said. The video showed he had something in his hand. That something was later identified as a handgun, which Shin kept pointed down, according to the warrant.

At that time, West went to the trunk of the Chrysler 300 and got a handgun, police have said.

West opened fired at Shin when the Dallas man walked to the back of his Jeep, according to the warrant. Shin retreated and West pursued him before raising his handgun a second time and firing multiple shots, police said. The warrant does not say that Shin fired his weapon at any point.

The video showed Shin running away. Fort Worth police later found Shin’s body lying on a median near the northbound lanes of traffic on University Drive.

At a party on Oct. 14 to celebrate Shin’s life and raise money for the family’s funeral and legal expenses, friends and family shared memories about the Dallas man they called a mentor, supporter, friend, ally and great uniting force in the community.

Family and friends shared stories of how Shin supported the community around him, from hosting events at his Dallas business, Family Karaoke, to help prop up other local small businesses, to fundraising to help anybody he knew needed help with things like medical bills. Most of them said they didn’t know the full extent of how much he gave of his time and money to those in need until they all started sharing stories after his death.

They recalled how he was eager to invite anybody he knew to his crawfish boils and to go out on the lake in his new boat every Sunday. Anything he could to do bring people together, he would. One of the most important things to him was to gather folks from different walks of life and make sure they had a good time.

His sister, Kerri Shin, said Jin Shin would give anything excess he had to those who needed it. He learned that from their parents, she said.

“All my brother wanted was a sense of community and to support each other and just for everybody to have fun when they were around him,” she said. “He gave to other people, cared about other people so much to the extent that I, as his sister, I didn’t even know how much he was doing for people until now, with so many people talking about how he helped them.”

Chi Lee, Jin Shin’s partner of 10 years, said she’s been on a roller coaster of emotions since his death, from sadness and heartbreak and loss and anger to motivation to find justice and joy at seeing the impacts Shin had on the community around him.

“He was my hero, and I know so many other people here feel the same,” Lee said at the party.

Communities coming together

Shin’s impacts went beyond the Asian-American community in Dallas he loved.

Shin had dreams of supporting and promoting participation in Asian cultures and celebrations across North Texas, and he was working toward those dreams.

Peng Dang, a local comedian who met Shin when he came to one of his performances to show support for an up-and-coming Asian-American comedian, said that was part of the reason Shin was in Fort Worth that night.

Dang and Shin both went to the K-Pop event, where Shin gushed about how exciting it was to see people from so many different cultural backgrounds celebrating a part of Korean culture. He and Shin shared his last two cigarettes outside the coffee shop before they parted ways.

But Shin’s passion for bringing people together didn’t stop with sharing Asian culture.

He also hosted other groups and events at this karaoke bar, like the Dallas Hackers Association.

At the party last Friday night, members of the association wore shirts with Shin’s portrait and the phrase, “It’s fantastic, sir,” something they heard him say regularly when he was asked his opinion about the food or service while visiting local restaurants and other small businesses.

Shin offered a place to host the hacking group regularly for meet-ups and competitions, something they said was difficult to find. He didn’t care about the stigmas around hacking. He saw that it was a group of good people and did everything he could to make their events at his bar more exciting, members said.

Kerri Shin said the party was being hosted, in part, because it would make Jin Shin proud.

“We’re celebrating his life because that’s what Jin would want,” Kerri Shin said.

The support from those who knew her brother was heartwarming, she said.

“I can’t express how thankful we are.”

‘We want complete justice’

While the party was more jovial than previous events, like a vigil and wake for Jin Shin hosted at Family Karaoke in August, those in attendance were still open about expressing the sorrow and anger they feel because of his death.

At its root, the party was about showing the world that those who cared about Shin haven’t forgotten and won’t be quiet until they feel justice has been served, friends said. People were asked to buy raffle tickets for donated prizes and make other donations, all of it going to the family to pay for legal fees and funeral expenses.

Family and close friends said they will hire an attorney to urge police to arrest everybody who was in the group that assaulted Shin.

“We were glad when the first person was arrested, but we want complete justice,” Kerri Shin said. “I’m angry. I’m angry at the fact that nobody else has been arrested. Justice isn’t being done, and we’re just left heartbroken because Jin is gone.”

Kerri Shin said family and friends want answers and more open communication from police. They can’t imagine why only one person has been arrested, and said they haven’t been able to get any straight answers on why. There are talks among those closest to Jin Shin of organizing picketing or protests in Fort Worth if they don’t get answers or see more arrests soon.