Police arrested two junior high school boys on suspicion of robbery and injury after getting into a fight with a male owner of a jewelry store in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture and injuring him by hitting his head while escaping after stealing precious metals.
Around 5:30 pm on the 24th, at a jewelry store that doubled as a residence in Agachuo, Kure City, a pair of people broke the window and stole a necklace with a selling price of 300,000 yen and fled.
A 62-year-old man, the owner, noticed and went outside, but a scuffle ensued, and the man was hit on the head with some kind of weapon and injured.
He was taken to hospital, but his injuries are said to be non-life-threatening.
The two men fled after hitting the man, but were secured as a result of an investigation by the police who received a report from the man and checked the surrounding security cameras.
The two men, both 14-year-old second-year students at a junior high school in Kure City, were arrested on suspicion of robbery and injury before 10 p.m. on the 24th.
According to police, the two have admitted to the allegations.
One of them said, ``I hit somewhere on the man's body when I ran away while swinging the hammer,'' and the other said, ``I tried to steal jewelry with my friends.''
Police are investigating further to find out how the incident happened.