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Four male juveniles have been charged in two separate robberies of a Kalihi mom-and-pop store that happened within a week.
A 17-year-old boy was charged Friday with first-degree robbery for a May 13 robbery at the Y-7 Liquor & Grocery store on Gulick Avenue. Another 17-year-old boy had already been charged with first-degree robbery in the case.
Also Friday, a juvenile was charged with second-degree robbery in connection with a robbery at the store on Monday, when the store’s 76-year-old female co-owner was put in a chokehold. Authorities did not release an age for the suspect. A 15-year-old boy who police said put the chokehold on the woman had already been charged with first-degree robbery.
All four boys’ cases have been turned over to Family Court, which will handle each behind closed doors because the suspects are juveniles.
Monday’s robbery caused an uproar on social media after a surveillance video was posted on the Internet showing Ok Cha Kim being held in a chokehold while the cash register was looted. A third suspect in the case has not yet been arrested.
Kim was back at work Wednesday.
On May 13 three masked suspects armed with a knife and a stick entered the grocery store and approached 74-year-old Yong Son Kim, Kim’s husband and the store’s co-owner, and demanded money. A third suspect is still at large in that case as well.
Prosecutors can file a petition with Family Court to have the juveniles tried as adults. The maximum penalty for any juvenile offense is imprisonment in the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility until he or she is 19. However, the decisions of Family Court are confidential.