N.Y. Korean designer says he was framed for plans of mass shooting

June 13, 2014

By Ham Ji-ha

Kon Jang, 35, the New York-based Korean interior architect who was arrested in May after a co-worker reported his threats to stage a mass shooting at his workplace to police, says he was framed.

In a phone interview with The Korea Times, Song Dong-ho, Jang’s attorney, said that there had been no plans of a shooting.

Song said the gun found in Jang’s apartment by police was a fake gun purchased on eBay. He said Jang told him he’d had an argument with the co-worker and that she framed him by lying to police about plans of the mass shooting.

An NYPD criminal complaint said the witness had told police that Jang had told her that his plan “was going to be a tragedy, that he wanted to be on the news.” She told police he’d drawn a diagram with “X”s on the seats of the company’s employees.

Meanwhile, the New York Post reported that, according to the New York Police Department’s investigation, Jang started to plan the shooting after finding out that he would soon be fired.

The architecture and design firm, CetraRuddy, told the Post Jang is no longer with the company.

The Post reported that a woman who works at the firm called Jang “quiet.”

Jang is being held at a detention center on a $10,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court on June 16.