What started out as a shoplifting incident escalated into a robbery yesterday at the new Wal-Mart store on Ke'eaumoku Street after the would-be shoplifter began struggling with a store security guard in an effort to escape, police said.

They said the incident happened about 6 p.m. and that a 28-year-old man was detained by store security workers until police arrived to arrest him for suspicion of second-degree robbery.

Man flees after robbery attempt

A tall, thin man bought a pack of cigarettes at a Kalihi gas station and convenience mart yesterday morning, then tried to rob it, police said.

The man entered Tom's Chevron at 743 N. King St. about 11:40 a.m. and paid for the cigarettes before pulling out a knife and demanding money, police said.

The cashier refused and screamed loudly, at which point the robber left the store and was last seen running east on North King Street.

Woman nabbed following attack

A 38-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of first-degree burglary and terroristic threatening for allegedly breaking into the Pauahi Street apartment of a 45-year-old man yesterday morning.

The man told police he was awakened at 5 a.m. by a knock on his door and that the woman forced her way in after he opened the door slightly. He said the woman beat him with her fists before taking out a hammer and threatening to kill him because he had paid some of her girlfriend's bills.

The man said he was able to run out of his apartment.

Police investigate assault of pair

Police have opened an attempted murder investigation after two men reported being accosted by two other men while drinking beer Saturday night under the Ke'eaumoku Street overpass near Lunalilo Street.

The two men said their assailants approached them and asked if they had any drugs to sell.

Police said the two men responded that they had no drugs and one of the assailants stabbed him in the back. He was later taken to The Queen's Medical Center where he was treated and released.

The stabbing victim's companion told police he was chased by the other man who tried to stab him but that he avoided being injured.

The two knife-wielding men ran from the area before police arrived. No arrests have been made in the case.

Victim of fall in fair condition

A 33-year-old man remained hospitalized in fair condition this morning after falling from the fifth floor of a vacant hotel at Beach Walk and Kalia Road in Waikiki.

Police said a security guard was on the ground floor of the building when he heard banging noises coming from the fifth floor.

The guard checked the rooms on that floor and found the man jumping from balcony to balcony, police said. They said the man attempted to drop to a lower floor but missed the landing and fell nearly five stories before striking a ledge, which broke the fall somewhat.

Police discovered a storage room on the fifth floor had been broken into and that a safe and money were missing.

They arrested the man, who received major injuries in the fall, for suspicion of burglary.