Posted on: Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Armed robberies increase on O'ahu

By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

Only 10 days into December, and police are already dealing with 12 armed robbery cases on O'ahu.

The majority of them have occurred at commercial establishments, while others have been reported at automated teller machines, and even at a Waikiki intersection where the driver victim was waiting at a stop sign.

Police believe two of the 12 cases are connected, said Maj. Darryl Perry of HPD's Criminal Investigation Division.

Perry said armed robberies involving handguns rarely occur here. But while he called the latest string of robberies "an anomaly, we want to get control of the situation before someone does get hurt."

Ten of the 12 armed robbery cases since Dec. 1 involved firearms, police said. In comparison, O'ahu last year averaged eight robberies involving firearms a month, according to 2001 crime statistics.

The latest armed robbery occurred Sunday evening at the 'Ewa Beach Domino's Pizza at 91-775 Papipi Road, when a man entered the store, cocked and pointed a handgun at two employees and demanded they open the safe, police said. When informed that the safe was time-locked and could not be opened, the man took cash from the register and fled.

Perry said investigators are eyeing possible suspects for the 11 other unsolved cases and are reviewing security video footage taken at the businesses. He asked business owners and employees not to resist the armed criminals during a robbery.