Honolulu, Hawaii: Kalihi Store Clerk Celeste Gusman, 66, Fatally Stabbed at Work, Man Charged With Murder

A store clerk who asked a customer to pay for a drink he had opened inside a Kalihi mini mart was stabbed in the neck and died, according to court documents filed in Honolulu. Celeste Gusman, 66, a longtime clerk at the Aloha Island Mart and a grandmother, was at work on the afternoon of Wednesday, Nov. 4, when the attack happened. She was taken to a hospital, where she died. Police arrested Alexis Aquino, 23, inside the store, and prosecutors have charged him with second degree murder and first degree robbery. His bail is set at one million dollars.

What the court documents say

According to the court documents, Gusman asked Aquino to pay for an alcoholic drink he had opened inside the store. He swore at her and stabbed her in the neck, the documents say. A coworker told police that she called 911 after the stabbing. She said the suspect then approached her and asked for a vape. She jumped over the counter and fled to a stockroom, according to the documents. Honolulu police said officers responded at about 3:20 p.m. to a reported stabbing at a business in the 2300 block of North School Street, in the Kalihi neighborhood just west of downtown Honolulu. Another woman in her sixties was also hurt during the incident, according to police reports of the scene.

The arrest inside the store

Officers who entered the store found Aquino still inside, holding a kitchen knife and a canned drink, police said. He ignored orders to drop the knife, and officers used a stun device to detain him, according to the court documents. Police first arrested him on suspicion of second degree attempted murder. After Gusman died at the hospital, police reclassified the investigation as a murder case. The store sits on a busy Kalihi street of small businesses and homes, and the killing has shaken coworkers and regular customers who knew Gusman from behind the counter. Hawaii News Now reported that her family is remembering her as a grandmother who had worked at the store for years.

Charges and the next court date

Aquino made his first court appearance on Friday, Nov. 6. He is charged with second degree murder and first degree robbery, and he is being held on one million dollars bail. He is scheduled to return to court on Tuesday, Nov. 10. The charges are allegations, and Aquino is presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the case in court. Police have not announced any motive beyond the dispute over the opened drink described in the court documents, and investigators have not said that the two knew each other before that afternoon. Court records in the case are expected to lay out the evidence in more detail at the next hearing.