When Brian Aniki walked into a gym at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst for his first taekwondo practice, he noticed something special about the older student who was leading it.
“He was 6-foot something and he just looked so calm and collected — an absolutely stoic leader,” Aniki recalled. “I thought, ‘This is a guy I can learn from.’”
Aniki wasn’t the only one impressed by the team leader, Kyu Cho, who became a close friend and mentor. Cho was wise and nurturing beyond his years, an elite martial artist who also excelled in the classroom, according to multiple friends and former team members.
After college, Cho went to law school, got married and returned to his native Texas, where he and his wife, Cindy Cho, had two children: William, now 6, and James, who would be 3.
Aniki still remembers the excitement in Cho’s voice as he described William’s early milestones when the old college friends reconnected some years ago.
“He loved being a dad,” Aniki said.
William no longer has his father. Or his mother. Or his younger brother.
All three were killed over the weekend in the mass shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas, about 25 miles north of Dallas. William was wounded in the attack, which claimed the lives of eight people before the heavily armed gunman was shot dead.
The killing of the couple and their youngest son has led to an outpouring of grief from their church community near Dallas, where they lived, and across the nation.
A GoFundMe page set up for William had raised nearly $1.5 million by Tuesday afternoon.
Cho’s wife, Cindy, was a dentist who graduated from the University of Texas Health San Antonio School of Dentistry in 2013. She was working at Thrive Dental and Orthodontics in Richardson. She was 35.
“Our whole team loved her very much, and we are absolutely heartbroken,” the company said in a Facebook post that also described her as “the sweetest, most beautiful soul with the kindest heart.”
“She was…
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