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Sonny Kim still watches over his dojo

Posted at 8:05 PM, Dec 02, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-02 20:05:56-05

SYMMES TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Sonny Kim's biggest job was as a husband and father.

But his work as a sensei left an indelible mark on the students at a dojo that was almost a second home to the fallen police officer.

Now, a photo of Kim greets everyone entering his Japanese Karate-Do along Montgomery Road.

"He's always here with us, always here watching over us," chief instructor Marc Silverman said. "Everyone knows who he is, so whether you're new, you've been here two months or 20 years, you all know who Sensei Kim is and what he did for the dojo."

PHOTOS: Kim remembered as beloved sensei

Police work was Kim's profession, but martial arts were his passion. Dwight Holley trained Kim as a young man, calling him "more like a son." He watched Wednesday as Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters unveiled findings of an investigation into Kim's death, now complete.

"It's said that the strongest man in the world is the weakest man in the world because you can take a life with a single punch," Holley said. "You should not easily be drawn into a confrontation, and Sonny was the epitome of that."

Kim's second family at the dojo are still working to support the wife and three boys he left behind, planning more fundraisers in 2016. They're committed to helping, just as they said their lost brother was.

"If Sonny was going to do something, he did it the whole way. It was never 50 percent or 90 percent, it was 100 percent," Silverman said. "If he did it, he did it all the way."