HONOLULU — Two 17-year-old boys and a 19-year-old man released Sunday after their arrest on suspicion of robbing a Kapolei 7-Eleven at gunpoint are suspected of a second robbery on Saturday night.
Bransen Nunes, 17, Aaron Langsi-Terry, 17, and Koden I. Pantaleon-Agustin, 19, were arrested Sunday on suspicion of first-degree robbery. Two of them allegedly wore masks and pulled handguns while threatening to shoot a 64-year-old cashier as the third waited in a white 2018 Nissan Sentra.
It is not immediately clear which of the suspects wore the masks and who drove the car. Nunes, Langsi-Terry and Pantaleon-Agustin were released pending investigation at 10:23 p.m. Sunday.
Authorities are investigating whether the three are also suspects in the robbery of 7-Eleven’s Leihano store at 4960 Kapolei Parkway on Saturday night. Hours later, at about 1:35 a.m., the three allegedly hit the 7-Eleven at 4969 Kapolei Parkway.
At that location the robbers threatened the 64-year-old cashier before taking cash from the registers and tobacco products from behind the counter.
HPD officers found the trio hiding out in a Hampton Inn hotel room. Honolulu police searched the hotel room and the Nissan and recovered two handguns, money ammunition and the clothes allegedly worn during the robberies.
The three were arrested on suspicion of first-degree robbery at 2:06 a.m. Sunday. A first-degree robbery conviction is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
“The investigation is continuing,” HPD spokesperson Michelle Yu told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a statement. “No additional information is being released at this time.”
Police allegedly recovered surveillance footage from both 7-Eleven stores. Company executives in Hawaii and Texas did not reply to Star-Advertiser requests for comment.
When asked about the decision to release the three after their arrest without charging them, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney told the Star-Advertiser in a statement that prosecutors do “not discuss matters that have not been charged nor does it disclose the existence or status of investigations.”
“Furthermore, and without acknowledging a juvenile’s involvement in this or any other incident, matters involving juveniles are confidential under Hawaii Revised Statutes 571-84,” read the statement.
Robberies on Oahu are down nearly 10% so far this year. There have been 287 as of June 30, compared with 318 at the same time in 2023.
The robberies on Saturday and Sunday occurred in HPD Patrol District 8, which includes Kapolei, Ewa, Ewa Beach, Westloch, Barbers Point, Makakilo, Campbell Industrial Park, Honokai Hale, Koolina, Nanakuli, Maili, Waianae, Makaha, Makua and Kaena. There have been 58 robberies in District 8 so far this year, compared with 94 in 2023.
