The owner of a grocery store in Northwest Washington died Tuesday after being attacked during an armed robbery of his store Friday night.
James Oh, 76, ran Gold Corner Market in the 5500 block of Colorado Avenue with his wife, Soonai Oh, 66. The couple, from Rockville, was closing their store shortly after 5 p.m. on the Fourth of July when two men entered and demanded money, according to a police report.
Soonai Oh told police that she initially said no, then tried to unlock the cash register when one of the assailants pointed a silver handgun at her.
She was too nervous to be able to unlock the register, she said, and the second person hit her in the head with an unknown object, which knocked her to the floor.
She said that her husband yelled, “Okay! Okay! We give money!” James Oh put $3,000 on the counter, Soonai Oh told police.
Soonai Oh reported that the robber with the gun then used it to hit her husband on the top of the head and with the other robber grabbed the money and fled.
Soonai Oh suffered minor injuries from the blow to her head and the fall. James Oh suffered head trauma in the attack and died at the hospital.
Police said the robbers drove away from the store in a black Jeep Cherokee that had been stolen on the day of the robbery and was later recovered. Both wore hooded sweat shirts and masks and were described as being about 17 or 18 years old.
Police posted a video of the crime on YouTube.
Clarence Williams contributed to this report.