The surveillance video of Ok Cha Kim, the 76-year-old woman choked unconscious by a robber Monday night in her Kalihi corner store, has gone viral on social media, touching a collective nerve.
“This was despicable,” said Lt. Walter Ozeki of the Honolulu Police Department Robbery Detail. “It upset a lot of people. This one probably had more social media attention than any case I can recall.”
Honolulu CrimeStoppers was deluged with calls and tips, and many people recognized the robbers, Ozeki said. By Tuesday night, two teenage boys, including the teen who allegedly grabbed and put the woman in a chokehold, had turned themselves in to police.
Ozeki said at least one of them was accompanied by his parents.
The other teen was reportedly involved in a 9 a.m. Friday robbery at the same store, Y-7 Liquor & Grocery Store on Gulick Avenue, involving three masked male suspects.
Three males also robbed the store Monday.
Police continue to search for the remaining four suspects in the two robberies. They have identified some of them.
About 700 robberies occur yearly on Oahu, but “to have them victimized twice in a few days is very unusual,” Ozeki said.
At 6 p.m. Monday, three masked male suspects entered the store. One held the woman in a chokehold, while another emptied the cash register. The third acted as a lookout.
Kim was released from the hospital Tuesday and was back Wednesday at the tiny store she owns with her husband, Yong Son.
She said the top and back of her head were still sore, and she had to take a nap in the back of the store.
But the violent robbery was not going to stop her.
“I gonna work,” she vowed.
Yong Son Kim was at the checkout counter Friday when three male suspects entered, one pointing a stick and another pointing an approximately 10-inch-long knife at him.
On Wednesday afternoon, he had not heard the news about the arrests.
He said police spent two to three hours Monday night writing reports.
The 74-year-old said he won’t be arming himself.
“I no like gun,” he said. “Gun more big problem. I find dog, more better.”
He said there’s “not too much money inside” the cash register, but he can’t retire because “nobody buy this store.”
On Facebook, members of Stolen Stuff Hawaii had viewed and reposted the surveillance video showing Ok Cha Kim being placed in the chokehold. Many offered leads and posted photos of possible suspects.
After a detective with HPD’s Virtual Unit posted it at 3:57 p.m. Tuesday on Stolen Stuff’s Facebook page, it was shared 3,644 times. By then, the video had probably already been viewed more than 100,000 times. To date, it has been viewed 1.1 million times on Hawaii News Now’s Facebook page.
Michael Kitchens, the group’s founder, had to calm down people who wanted to take matters into their own hands.
“I know everyone is … angry at these despicable people that did this,” he wrote Tuesday night. “You have done an admirable job of snooping out the possible perps and suspects. (W)e are all hurt by seeing our elderly hurt like this.”
“What if the WRONG person gets beaten up because of the photos and comments being made here today?” he said. “I’m asking all of you to slow down … let HPD do its job. A lynch mob is not necessary.”
Todd Matsumoto, owner of Matsumoto Okazuya & Restaurant, located next door to the store, said the robbers were “targeting the elderly because they can’t defend themselves. Just young punk kids trying to be part of a gang. He didn’t have to choke her. … They got robbed a lot of times.”
Neighbors, friends and customers stopped by to check on Ok Cha Kim.
Saleen Banquicio, 22, who lives two houses away from the store, bought a newspaper there.
“It was horrible to think that people just come and rob innocent people. So sad. I’m afraid someone’s going to come in our yard,” she said.
Kernel Malasig, 25, a neighbor and once a frequent customer, said, “I saw her on Facebook last night when I was heading home from work. Before I got my car, I always stopped by the store. She’s a super nice lady. … I saw the news and I was petrified. It kind of got me worried.”
Nathaniel Lopez, a 16-year-old Farrington High School student who walked past the store, said, “Personally, whoever these people are, they have no respect for anybody and they only care about themselves. I just feel sad for the owners.
He said one of the suspects who turned himself in “was my previous friend.”
Lopez said he doesn’t think it’s gang-related. “I think those people just chose to do the wrong thing.”