Teen sentenced to 5 years in youth facility for killing of Fashion District store owner

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- One of two teens accused of fatally stabbing a Fashion District store owner during a robbery last year has been sentenced to five years in a juvenile facility, officials said Tuesday.

The defendant, who was 17 at the time of the killing last October, admitted to voluntary manslaughter and received the maximum sentence for that charge for a juvenile, five years in a secure youth treatment facility, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office.

The video in the media player above is from a previous report.

The case involving the other defendant, also 17 at the time, is still going through the legal system, with the next court date set in two weeks.

The names of the two juveniles have not been disclosed publicly.

A 17-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl were in custody after the stabbing death of a 56-year-old man in downtown Los Angeles, police said.

The store owner, Du Young Lee, 56, was fatally stabbed near the wig store he ran for almost two decades. Witnesses say two teens tried to steal a wig from the store but the owner chased and confronted them, leading to the stabbing.

Friends and family members say over the years the store owner was involved in multiple incidents involving confronting shoplifters, sometimes ending up injured but continuing to stand his ground. Other store owners described him as heroic, seeing his efforts as symbolically standing up for them as well.