LA shop owner fatally stabbed in altercation with teen shoplifters
Du "Tommy" Lee was stabbed in broad daylight last October in an altercation with a pair of 17-year-old shoplifters. One of the assailants was sentenced this week to five years in a juvenile facility for voluntary manslaughter.
A teen shoplifter who was initially accused of murder in the stabbing death of a Los Angeles shopkeeper was sentenced to five years in a secure juvenile facility on voluntary manslaughter charges last week, per the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.
Initially, the office said at the time of the Oct. 1 incident last year, two 17-year-olds were charged with murder and second-degree robbery in the death of 56-year-old Fashion District vendor Du "Tommy" Lee.
The store owner, a Korean immigrant and a fixture in the district for nearly 20 years, reportedly chased and confronted the teens before he was stabbed near the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Wall Street, per the release.
Witnesses told FOX 11 that the two 17-year-olds – a boyfriend and girlfriend – ran out onto the street after stealing a wig with Lee in pursuit. Lee and one of the teens wrestled for a gun that the shoplifters had. Then, the store's landlord told the outlet, one of the teens "pulled out a knife and shanked him right in the heart."
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Pictured is the shuttered storefront of Du "Tommy" Lee's shop in the Los Angeles financial district. Lee was stabbed by a pair of teen shoplifters in October 2022 – one of his killers was sentenced to five years this week. (FOX 11)
One of the two minors recently pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, per reporting by ABC 7. The maximum sentence available for that charge for a minor is five years in a secure youth treatment facility, the office told the outlet.
A court date for the second juvenile is scheduled within the next two weeks, according to the outlet.
"I don't think he ever imagined he would ever be murdered over a wig," the landlord told FOX 11 at the time.
Due to their minor status, the names of the defendants have not been disclosed publicly.
Per California's Proposition 21, minors accused of murder, certain sex crimes and other violent crimes will automatically be tried as adults.
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It is unclear why the teens' charges were downgraded. Fox News Digital could not reach the District Attorney's Office for comment at press time.
"Mr. Lee was killed in the middle of the day on a busy street in downtown L.A. while simply trying to run his business." District Attorney George Gascón said in the October press release last year, when the pair faced murder charges. "His death is a tremendous loss for his friends, family and all who knew him. I want to make it clear that my office will work diligently to hold accountable individuals who engage in violent acts – even if they are minors."
FOX 11 reported that Lee had been robbed four times in the last four years.
Chaerin Lee, the wig store owner's daughter, wrote in a GoFundMe initiative that her father had confronted multiple thieves over the past five years.
He was "beaten with a golf club" in one previous incident – captured on film obtained by FOX 11 last year – and was "beat[en] by multiple men [who broke] his nose and fracture[d] his arm" in another, Chaerin wrote.
"Every time he [confronted shoplifters] he would come back home with injuries like this," Chaerin wrote. "I would tell him ‘Just give it to them, it’s too dangerous,' but not once did he listen."
Chaerin wrote that his refusal to back down "infuriated" her until she spoke with a nearby store owner after her father's death.
"She told me, ‘Tommy wasn’t fighting for himself, he was protecting all the small business owners there. Because if you let them steal easily, they are going to keep coming back. He was more like a brave heroic figure for us,'" Chaerin recalled.
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California's Proposition 47, enacted by ballot referendum in 2014, reduced penalties for low-level drug crimes and thefts of items valued under $950. As a result, opponents like Rep. Kevin Kiley, a former state assemblyman, argue that thieves feel emboldened to commit crimes.
"It essentially legalized theft and open drug use in California, culminating in these unbelievable smash-and-grab robberies," Kiley said upon introducing Assembly Bill 1599 – which would reduce the threshold for felony theft to $400 and uproot much of the controversial proposition.
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