Marine: A hero in Iraq, a victim in Long Beach

There are few tragedies more senseless and terrible than when an innocent person is caught in the path of a gang member's bullet. Their deaths are among the worst to bear, for they carry no explanation or reason, only frustration, anger, emptiness and pain.

Such was the killing of Sok Khak Ung on Sunday. And the circumstances had an awful, ironic twist that made it even more heartbreaking: Ung was a Marine combat engineer who had fought for his country in Iraq, a Purple Heart recipient who survived a bomb explosion, only to be gunned down in front of his father's Long Beach home while on leave. His friend, Vouthy Tho, was also killed in the gunfire that witnesses described as "sparks" in the night.

Ung, a 22-year-old lance corporal, and Tho, a 21-year-old Long Beach City College student and aspiring rapper, were celebrating Ung's return from Iraq with a group of family and friends. They were cooking food outdoors at about 1 a.m. Sunday when an unknown, hooded male assailant reached over a fence and opened fire without a word, according to reports from witnesses and the Long Beach Police Department.

Police have no motive for the killings, but it's not a stretch to assume the gunman had gang ties. It's possible that the killer had the wrong targets, and the bullets were meant for someone else. It's also possible that he was part of a sick initiation ritual in which a young gang member is sent out to "prove himself" by inflicting random violence on whoever is unlucky enough to cross his path. It's also possible that, like other similar killings in the past, no one will ever know the reason, nor the person behind them.

Ung's death is no more and no less tragic than others in which people with no gang ties are killed for no other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But the unusual circumstances have sent shock waves throughout the city and state, the nation, and to Iraq, as Ung's fellow Marines began to receive word of his death.

In an unprecedented response to the killings, family members, friends and more than 100 members of the Cambodian community demonstrated at Long Beach City Hall, then filled the City Council chambers during the council's meeting. Several pleaded for the killer's arrest and for better police protection as council members listened somberly.

Lance Cpl. Ung proudly served his country in one of the most dangerous places on Earth, was awarded a Purple Heart for combat injuries, then returned to the U.S. and died in a neighborhood ambush. There are no good words to describe such a cruel twist of fate. And there is no good reason for the community to tolerate the kind of senseless violence that ended his life.