A grand jury has returned a true bill over the shooting death of a man at a Reston gym last summer.
Steve Taehee Ha, 43, was indicted Tuesday (Feb. 18), nearly six months after he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
Ha is believed to have entered the Gold’s Gym at the VY Reston Heights apartments on Aug. 21, 2024 and opened fire at another man, identified as 31-year-old Hyungjoon Choi.
A trainer at the gym, testifying in court last Thursday, Feb. 13, claimed to see Ha silently approach Choi before shooting in his direction between six and nine times, NBC4 reported.
Choi, a Reston resident, suffered “upper body trauma,” according to police, who did not confirm how many times he had been struck. Choi later died from his injuries at a local hospital.
Ha was identified as a person of interest after police checked the gym’s sign-in records around the time of the incident, cross-referencing with video footage and cell phone records to identify him as the suspect, according to court records.
Though he fled the scene, Ha was taken into custody hours after the incident, police said.
So far, it remains unclear what Ha’s motive was, or if the two men had any sort of prior relationship.
Ha appeared in court Thursday morning, where a jury trial was scheduled to begin May 19.
In Virginia, a second-degree murder conviction carries with it a penalty of between 5 and 40 years in state prison. Ha also faces a charge for using a firearm in commission of a felony, which would levy a mandatory minimum of 3 years in prison, if convicted.
