HALAWA, Hawaii (KHON2) — Just before 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19, two young men walked into a booth at Aloha Stadium’s Swap Meet, stole thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and took off.
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The owners of the booth shared security footage of the thieves walking into the booth. One had a yellow sweatshirt and used a hammer to break the glass, while another with a large hat, came in and took the jewelry.
The whole incident lasted five seconds before the owners chased them. They believe the thieves are between 16 and 19 years old.
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“There was one with a hammer so I tried to eliminate the threat,” explained one of the owners. “So I focused on the one with the yellow jacket and they split in two ways, and the black shirt guy went right, the one in yellow went straight ahead so I went after him, then he dropped the hammer so we recovered hammer and umbrella for police.”
This booth added security cameras four years ago after they were attacked.
“We work hard for our money. We’ve been here 30 years and it just takes one or two break-ins and that would ruin our whole year’s income,” explained the owners.
“Before I did this, I had to work 14 hours a day, seven days a week to get to where I am today, it’s just not fair for them to rob me like this,” they added.
“How can we do business like this every day? It’s scary,” the couple said.
Other vendors also noticed the thieves. They said they wear ski masks, gloves and masks in the hot sun.
They said they work in groups, sometimes there are four teens, and some said they’ve been robbed nearly every month. They said they’ll grab items and then hop a chain link fence and run outside of the stadium and towards the freeway.
The owners’ daughter shared a video of the thieves scoping their booth back on Sept. 28, surveillance footage showed a teen pulling a hammer out of his pants before noticing the security camera. He then put it back and walked away.
“My mom works really hard, she still wakes up at 5 a.m., she sells food in Chinatown too, she’s always working because business isn’t very stable so she’s just trying to provide for me and my sister,” explained Stephanie Lee, the daughter.
The surveillance footage circulated across social media on Saturday night, and on Sunday, many local residents stopped by the booth to show support.
“We walked by and saw the lady and we recognized her,” said resident Serafina Aguilar, who had friends visiting from out of town. “So, we went by and we looked at jewelry and we decided to support her because of what happened yesterday so we ended up buying quite a lot and she’s very nice, very nice lady.”
Aloha Stadium said in a statement:
“The Aloha Stadium is aware of the recent incident affecting our vendors and want to express our concern for everyone involved. We are actively collaborating with Sodexo Live, who manages the swap meet, as well as local authorities, to ensure a thorough investigation and support for our vendors during this time.
While we cannot disclose specific details due to the ongoing investigation, please be assured that the safety and security of our vendors and patrons are our top priorities. We are currently working on reviewing our security plans to enhance safety measures at the swap meet and prevent future incidents.”
If you have any information, call Honolulu police.
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