On November 26, 2023, 23-year-old Ryu Kai Her was killed in a shooting outside the Sacto By Night Lounge in South Sacramento around 1:45 a.m. The shooting occurred as patrons were leaving a Hmong New Year celebration; a confrontation in the parking lot involving gang members escalated into a fight and gunfire that also fatally wounded the club’s owner, 51-year-old Binh Quoc Do.

Her, a Stockton native who graduated from Cesar Chavez High School and attended Delta College, worked for the Stockton Unified School District. His mother, Mee Yang, said he enjoyed sports, fishing, and his church’s praise and worship team, and maintained that he had no gang ties and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Witnesses saw suspects flee in a white vehicle; the California Highway Patrol located the car, detained occupants and recovered multiple firearms. Kevin Thao, 19, Christopher Lin, 37, and a juvenile were detained and later faced weapons-related charges, but as of April 2024 no murder charges had been filed while investigators examined the evidence.

The nightclub closed for two weeks after the killings and reopened with a remembrance event, donating half the night’s profits to the victims’ families and adding security measures. Her’s family continues to attend proceedings and press for a full accounting.