This time, the Cambodian grocer had the gun tucked in his waistband. He fired once, hitting Pryor in the side and ending a two-month robbery spree that had terrorized Asian grocers in Philadelphia. Pryor and his accomplice, Kemo Mayerd, robbed nine Asian grocery stores 20 times over two months in 1998. Two owners were robbed five times apiece - one of them twice in one day. There are more recent examples.
Asian merchants make easy targets.
John Yoo, the former president of the local chapter of the Korean American Grocers Association, said the number of Korean grocers in Philadelphia had fallen by about a third in the last four years, with crime being the number-one reason for selling out. In the aftermath of Pryor and Mayerd's spree, three of the owners sold their businesses, including Lim. We are not afraid to work hard. But we are afraid of danger. Prosecutors in Philadelphia see only about one or two cases of serial robbery a year.