Elderly couple held hostage on Tantalus
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
A 21-year-old Hawai'i Kai man was arrested last night after police said he fled from a stolen car, broke into a Tantalus home and held the elderly homeowners hostage for nearly six hours.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
The 80-year-old man and his 70-year-old wife were not injured.
A suspect is whisked away by police after being arrested in the home of an elderly couple on Round Top Drive.
Heavily armed police surrounded the home and later snuck inside to arrest the man on suspicion of first-
degree burglary, first-degree terroristic threatening, auto theft and two counts of kidnapping.
"There always is a chance that something can go wrong anytime someone is being held against their will," said Specialized Services Division Capt. Doug Miller. "We made the decision to do what we did, to try to resolve this thing safely, and that's how it turned out."
According to police, the standoff started at about 2 p.m., when police noticed a white Honda Civic in the 2300 block of Round Top Drive whose driver abandoned the car and fled on foot into the neighborhood.
He then broke into the elderly couple's home at 2325 Round Top Drive, police said, and held the couple against their will.
He may have armed himself with a knife at one point during the standoff, they said. He was not armed when police arrested, Miller said.
Hostage negotiators telephoned the man and persuaded him to release the woman at 7:40 p.m. About 20 minutes later the SWAT team made "stealthful entry" into the home and arrested the suspect, who was near the 80-year-old man, Miller said. No one was injured.
Miller said police interviewed the woman, whose statements factored into the decision to enter the home covertly.
Miller credited negotiators for helping to diffuse a dangerous situation.
"There was some dialogue that we had with the suspect through our negotiators that did contribute to the successful resolution," he said.
Miller said the suspect did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol and appeared "lucid." Miller said he surrendered and police did not use their bean-bag shotguns.
Police closed a section of Round Top Drive during the standoff.
Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8110.
