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A Fairfax County judge has found a 45-year-old Chantilly man not guilty by reason of insanity in the fatal 2024 shooting of Hyungjoon Choi inside a Reston gym.

Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Michael F. Devine entered the ruling July 17, 2026, in the case against Steve Taehee Ha. The decision covered charges of second-degree murder and using a firearm during a felony.

Ha entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and waived his right to have the case decided by a jury. Devine then remanded him to the custody of Virginia’s Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

The court-ordered review calls for Ha to be evaluated by a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist. Their report is expected to address whether he requires commitment to an inpatient facility or could be released under conditions.

Devine is scheduled to consider the report and decide between those outcomes at a hearing on Sept. 17, 2026. The final disposition therefore remained pending after the July ruling.

The charges arose from the Aug. 21, 2024, shooting of Choi at Gold’s Gym in the Point at Rise apartment complex in Reston. The complex was previously known as VY Reston Heights.

According to earlier accounts from the Fairfax County Police Department, Ha repeatedly shot Choi inside the gym. Police accounts also indicated that the two men did not know each other.

Choi, 31, suffered trauma to his upper body and was taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.

He was the father of an infant son at the time of the shooting. Choi’s widow later told NBC4 that her husband had gone to the gym during his lunch break so exercising would not take time away from his family.

A grand jury indicted Ha on a murder charge in February 2025.