Los Angeles Wig Shop Owner FATALLY STABBED While Chasing Teenage Robbers
Caution tape.
Oct. 4 2022, Published 2:04 p.m. ET
A Los Angeles wig shop owner was fatally stabbed as he attempted to stop a robbery on Oct. 1, Radar has learned.
Tommy Lee, 56, who owned a wig shop near the intersection of Wall Street and Olympic Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles, was working around 1:15 p.m. when a pair of 17-year-olds attempted to rob him.
“They were looking at a wig. And then all of a sudden, they made a run for it,” landlord Davina Kangavari said. Surveillance and cellphone video showed one of the suspects looking at a blonde wig before both took off. Lee then started chasing them.
“Tommy had a record of being tough and going after robbers. He started chasing them around [the] shopping center and then the boy pulled out a knife and shanked him right in the heart,” Kangavari said.
Lee, who is of South Korea descent and immigrated to the United States, was found unconscious and pronounced dead on scene. A boy and a girl, whose names have not been released because they are minors, were arrested in connection with Lee's death.
Lee, who owned his Fashion District wig shop for more than 20 years, is survived by a 25-year-old daughter.
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“I don’t think he ever imagined he would be murdered over a wig,” Kangavari said, according to the New York Post. “Shame on [the robbers]. Threw life away over a wig.”
