Published: Sun, Aug. 05, 2007 12:00AM

Modified Sun, Aug. 05, 2007 03:38AM

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Like so many Chinese-American restaurants, Jin Jin offers a mix of dishes, such as Mongolian beef, Hunan chicken and Szechuan shrimp, that have proven popular with Americans. The restaurant also sprinkles in fare such as chicken wings and french fries.

"A little bitty place like that went a long way," Whitley said. "We have a short-order place, but you get tired of eating hamburgers all the time."

Intruders

Ni's house is sparsely furnished. But its walls hold signs of the guiding compasses in his life: a Chinese calendar, a Buddhist altar and two black-and-white photos of Ni's grandmother and grandfather.

The solemn countenances of Ni's ancestors face the kitchen door where, authorities say, Stacey Devon Atkinson, 18, of Walstonburg and Reginald Lemonte Atkinson, 36, and Darryl Wilkes, 36, both of Farmville, barged in on Saturday night, July 28. After closing the restaurant, Lin's visiting sister and a cook were entering from a carport when the three men shoved them inside, authorities say.

The robbers took about $700 -- the restaurant's earnings that day -- from the woman's skirt pocket while she and the cook crouched on the kitchen floor. Hearing the commotion, Ni, who had been at his computer in a nearby room, tried to shut his door.

But he was shot through the door, Wilson County sheriff's officers say.

Lin was with her two daughters, ages 5 and 1, in another bedroom down the hall. She shut and locked the door.

One of the robbers tried kicking the door open. He struck the door with his gun, creating a hole, and menacingly waved the weapon. After Lin opened the door, the robber pointed his gun at the children's heads.

Lin recalled his threat: "Yell, and I'll kill you."

She grabbed a blanket to cover her children's mouths, she said, then got down on her knees.

"Don't kill my children!" she begged.

Lin said she then heard one of the other men shout, "I got some."

The robbers fled, authorities say, carrying the $700, plus a larger, though yet undisclosed amount from the room where Ni was shot.

Mourning Ni

A few days after the killing, friends of Ni converged upon Stantonsburg to mourn. More than 20 Chinese restaurant workers, mostly cooks, drove in from South Carolina, Georgia, Connecticut and New York. Most had known Ni in China or had become friends through restaurant work.

They peered through the dark windows of the temporarily closed restaurant. A poster of community condolences leaned by the door. Ni's friends expressed fear, anger, sadness.

"Before, the small towns were more peaceful," said Mac Lin, a Jacksonville restaurant worker. "People preferred small towns."

Yet Chinese restaurants have been targeted before. In a six-week period in 2003, for instance, there was a string of robberies at Asian restaurants -- two in Goldsboro, three in Kinston, four in Fayetteville and one each in Wilson, Farmville and Winterville. In one case, a woman was raped.

In 2001, Asian restaurants in at least 21 cities and towns in Eastern North Carolina were robbed over several months.

Wilson County Sheriff Wayne V. Gay thinks criminals might go after Asian restaurants because they see an opportunity.

Sometimes, language barriers can challenge getting suspect descriptions or building a case. Asian owners might also be more inclined to keep cash at home than deposit it at a bank, Gay said.

"In a small town like Stantonsburg, we recommend they call the sheriff or police department for an escort," Gay said. "They'd do it for anybody who'd ask."

Mei Shi "C.C" Chan, a Cary-based Allstate insurance agent, also hopes owners will take more precautions. Her own family has been robbed three times at its restaurant in Greenville and once at home. Chan, who insures a lot of Chinese restaurants in North Carolina, said many of her clients called her after Ni's death.

Besides getting escorts, Chan said, she wishes more owners would install motion detectors around their homes and change the patterns of how they deposit money.

Hard road ahead

Ni's widow, Lin, reopened the restaurant on Thursday. She faces difficulties ahead.

English has not been a problem when taking customer orders, but Lin typically relied on her husband to handle more complicated matters. She is moving out of the couple's home and struggling to make sense of confusing legal documents. She plans to keep the restaurant open for now.

"I need to make a living, to raise my kids," Lin said. "And I rely on this restaurant to survive."