Less than a week after a deputy sheriff was shot and killed in an armed robbery at a local bar, a masked man held up a Mililani sandwich shop at gunpoint and fled with cash.

No one was injured in the incident yesterday at Subway Sandwiches and Salads in the Mililani Town Center, but merchants said they were terrified.

"This really scares me because it was right next door," said Mihee Im, shift manager at the Supercuts salon on the ocean side of the sandwich shop. "I was here the whole time it was going on and he could have easily not picked that place and started here instead."

Employees of the sandwich shop declined to comment yesterday.

Im said the incident was especially upsetting considering the similar, highly publicized fatal robbery at a lounge on Kapi'olani Boulevard.

"It just seems like nowadays everybody's kind of crazy," Im said.

Guns are being used more frequently in robberies on O'ahu, police have said, and these two crimes underscore the trend.

The latest FBI statistics for Honolulu armed robberies show they increased in the first six months of 2006 compared with the same period the year before. The city had 455 armed robberies from January through June last year, up 18 percent from the same period in 2005, which had 384 armed robberies, FBI stats show.

There was one other robbery yesterday, police said, but it did not involve the use of a firearm. In that case, three men entered a store in Nu'uanu and took beer after threatening the clerk.

On the mountain side of the sandwich shop, Thanh Le, owner of the Goldmart jewelry store, was also upset about what happened.

"Yeah, it bothers me," he said. "Nothing like this has happened here before."

Like Im, Le said he was unaware an armed robbery had been taking place next door.

"I had no idea what was going on," he said. "I only saw police coming and going after it happened."

GUNPOINT DEMAND

Police said a man dressed in black and wearing a mask entered the sandwich shop about 10:50 a.m. and demanded money at gunpoint. Police described the gunman as in his 20s, about 6 feet tall and weighing 180 pounds.

The suspect then fled the store and headed east with an undisclosed amount of money, police said.

He remained at large late yesterday afternoon. A person apprehended by police in connection with the robbery is no longer thought to be a suspect, police said.

KAPI'OLANI KILLING

The Mililani incident happened less than a week after the Kapi'olani shooting.

In that incident, John Koa Lorenzo Jr., 32, was charged in the death of Daniel Browne-Sanchez at the Osake Sushi Bar and Lounge. Browne-Sanchez worked as a bartender's assistant.

Lorenzo is being held in lieu of $1 million bail and faces charges including second-degree murder, kidnapping, first-degree robbery and attempted murder.

Browne-Sanchez is the first state deputy sheriff to be shot and killed. A memorial service is set for tomorrow.

Witnesses at the Mililani Town Center said after the robbery, police instructed patrons and passers-by near the crime scene to leave the area and to seek refuge in one of the other stores.

A "Closed" sign was taped to the door of Subway while police inside spoke to witnesses.

"It makes you wonder what could happen," said Im, who was alone in the salon when she opened up for business. "It's frightening."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.