The suspect, Cline Kahue, 48, identified as a Waikiki resident by police, was later taken into custody near the McCully Street bridge. He was arrested on two counts of suspicion of third-degree assault in the cases involving the women, but not had been charged by mid-afternoon in the death of the man.

Witnesses said they saw a man first assault a 71-year-old pedestrian and shove him into the canal between Lewers and Kai‘olu streets; one witness said the elderly walker was pushed in at 8:07 a.m. Police said the victim struck his head on the reef and apparently drowned. His body, floating near the water’s edge, was recovered at 8:27 a.m., said homicide Lt. Bill Kato.

The dead man was an O'ahu resident, but his name was being withheld until relatives can be notified.

Most of the witness accounts come from people who watched from their lanai in the Island Colony, an apartment and hotel high-rise at Seaside Avenue, Kato said.

According to accounts, the male attacker next assaulted the two women, 23 and 57, one at Launiu Street and one at ‘Olohana Street before he fled. Waikiki district police said they are Hawai'i residents and were not injured seriously and did not require hospitalization.

Kahue was taken to The Queen’s Medical Center for psychiatric observation, said Lt. Abner De Lima of the East Honolulu police district.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled the first name of suspect Cline Kahue.