Arrest ends Kaimuki standoff
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Police arrested a man this afternoon who threatened to set a home ablaze after a two-hour standoff in Kaimuki.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
The man had been evicted from the house at 1112 2nd Ave. last week, police said. Neighbors called police when he returned to the empty home today.
A man threatened to set fire to a house at 1112 2nd Ave. this afternoon and the street was closed off in both directions. After a standoff with police, the man came out of the house without incident and was arrested.
Detective Gary Lahens said the man, who was in his 30s, was talking and yelling to himself when police arrived. He also had two dogs, both of which appeared to be mongrel pitbulls.
When officers approached the man, he poured a flammable liquid onto the floor of the house and threatened to ignite it with the grill starter. Police called in the SWAT team and hostage negotiators.
The negotiators talked the man out of the house without incident. He was arrested on charges of burglary.
Lt. Charles Wong said the man had been arrested for creating a disturbance at the same location previously, and had assaulted two officers.
Neighbors said the man appeared to have mental problems. He often wandered the streets, talking and yelling to himself.
"When I'm with my kids, I don't even walk near that place," said Renee Ige, who lives nearby.
Ige said the man had been taken away by ambulance on several earlier occasion, but was usually back later the same day, returning by bus.
He had lived in the house with two other people before the eviction.
"They must have just left without him," she said.
The dogs were taken by the Humane Society.
