Posted on: Tuesday, January 14, 2003

Maui police on hunt for Kapalua robber

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui Bureau

Maui police yesterday said they're looking for a gunman who forced his way into a Kapalua home Saturday night and terrorized a family of five.

The robbery occurred Saturday at 9:36 p.m. just as a couple and their three young children were preparing to go to bed in their Pineapple Hill Estates home, said police Lt. Lenie Lawrence.

Lawrence said family members saw a man carrying a rifle and wearing a white hood over his head just before he broke into a kitchen door. The family retreated to an upstairs bedroom, locked the door and began yelling on the balcony for neighbors to call 911.

The robber ran upstairs and kicked open the bedroom door. The mother, who was trying to keep the door shut, was bruised on the head.

The intruder fled, grabbing a purse from the kitchen counter.

The robber was wearing a black long-sleeve shirt and camouflage pants, in addition to the white hood, which might have been a shirt, Lawrence said.