Three males, possibly using a toy gun, have been committing a series of robberies or attempted robberies in the Kalihi area, according to their victims.

Police said two males targeted a business in the Dillingham area about 3:30 a.m. Friday, then hit the Par 3 Liquors on North King Street about two hours later. The males wore white masks, and one used a chrome handgun, police said.

Eight days earlier, three males entered a Mokauea Street business about 5:30 a.m., brandished handguns and broke open a cash register with a crowbar, police said. They took items from the counter.

Jeffrey Lee, 69, manager of Par 3 Liquors, said the group that hit the Mokauea store is the same group that tried to rob him twice. He knows so because a few minutes before the Mokauea store robbery, some males entered his store wearing the same masks, hoodies and blue camouflage. They were later captured on security cameras at the Mokauea store.

In the first incident at Par 3 on Jan. 23, Lee told two males who entered his store to take off their hoods and masks.

Instead, the males took a look at Lee’s burly looking fishing buddies, who were also in the store at the time, and walked out, Lee said.

A third man stayed outside as a lookout.

Lee called the cops to alert them of potential robberies. Several minutes later, police told him the same bandits had hit the Mokauea Street business.

Eight days later, Lee was working again when two masked males returned to Par 3 Liquors about 6 a.m. One man wore a surgical-type mask and the other had a white cloth over his face. Lee recognized them from the first incident by their height, build and mannerisms.

Lee, who stands 6 feet tall and weighs 240 pounds, walked up to the male in the middle aisle and confronted him. The robber took out a handgun, but Lee swore at him.

"I told him three times to shoot," he said.

The male lowered his gun and motioned as if he was chambering the weapon, but Lee couldn’t see any parts moving.

"I didn’t hear any clicks," he said, adding that he thought the weapon was a toy.

Lee walked toward the register and reached under to push the burglar alarm. The males fled empty-handed.

Lee said they appeared scared.

"If I had a golf club with me, I would have nailed them," he said.

While Lee’s golfing friends call him a hero, he doesn’t agree.

"I took the upper hand," he said. "Just reacted to the situation."

About two hours before Lee’s episode on Friday, Robert Ciano, a former petty officer second class in the Navy, faced the same robbers at his job.

Ciano, 56, works as a technician for a business with an outdoor arcade game at Waiakamilo Shopping Center on Dillingham Boulevard.

He said one masked male walked up to him about 3:30 a.m., pointed a weapon at his face and told him not to move. He said the weapon was covered by a cloth.

Another male stood to the side, keeping an eye on Ciano, and a third male waved a handgun while grabbing the bank bags from a bottom compartment of a coin machine, Ciano said.

He suspects the males, who seemed to be "young kids," had monitored the business before because they knew some employees stored cash in that compartment.

But the bags that the males took on Friday didn’t contain any cash, only white correction fluid and other office supplies.

Ciano, who also suspects the visible handgun was a toy, said the males are the same as those captured by a security camera at Par 3. He recognized one by his clothing.

Anyone with information is asked to call police or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.