Armed men hijack tour van, 4 occupants

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

Two mothers watched in shock and disbelief yesterday morning as a tour van with their daughters inside was hijacked from a Leeward Coast beach park.

The suspects Police released sketches and descriptions of two men involved in yesterday's tour-van hijacking. The man who took the van (top sketch) was described as in his mid-30s, 5 feet 8, with a medium build. He has dark brown hair and a dark complexion. The man who drove the getaway car was described as in his 30s, 5-10 and muscular. He has short dark hair and a tan complexion. They fled in a blue compact car, possibly a Chevrolet, with red fenders. The license plate contained the letters and numbers GV and 26. Police ask that people with information call detective Bert Soria at 529-3357 or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cell phone.

Police last night were looking for the hijacker and an accomplice, who got away in a blue compact car.

Anthony Lopez, 50, a visitor from Fort Collins, Colo., said he was among those on the van when it stopped at Kahe Point Beach Park about 6:45 a.m. for whale-watching. The driver, two women and Lopez's partner got out of the van, but Lopez and the girls — two 9-year-olds and a 10-year-old — stayed inside.

"I stayed behind with the three girls to cat-nap a little," Lopez said in a telephone interview yesterday.

About five to eight minutes later, he heard the driver's door open and slam shut and awoke to see a man behind the wheel instead of the woman driver who had picked up the group in Waikiki.

"The other adults and the driver were standing in the parking lot looking at us as the van was speeding away," he said. "I asked the driver, 'Who are you and what are you doing?' He said he was taking us to our hotel.

"But it didn't seem right, so I told him to stop the van and let us out."

Lopez said the driver looked over his shoulder, pulled out a large knife and told him he could jump from the moving van if he wanted to.

"I kept pleading with him to stop and let us out and he finally stopped. I was trying to unzip one of my carry-on bags to get my wallet and cell phone out so I could call 911, but he pulled out the knife again and said he would stab me if I tried to do anything other than get out of the van."

Lopez said that as the tour van was stopping to let him off, a car skidded to a halt behind the van and a second man got out and approached.

"I thought he was there to help us," Lopez said. "I was backing out of the van, keeping my eyes on the driver to make sure he wasn't going to stab me or hurt the girls.

"The door opened and I could hear my shirt ripping as the guy who had stopped behind the van was pulling me out, throwing me into the bushes on the side of the road."

Lopez said he kept pleading with the driver to release the girls. Finally, the girls were able to scramble out of the van after him, he said.

Lopez said the van screeched away and that he and the three girls stood by the side of Farrington Highway until a woman who had been at the park when the van was hijacked, and who had jumped into her car to try to follow it, noticed him and the girls.

"She took us back to the beach park. The mothers were standing there crying."

Lopez said the girls told him they are from Santa Cruz, Calif., and were in Hawai'i as part of a gymnastics gathering.

Tour company owner Victor Lozano said he has operated Dolphin Excursions for six years, and had a van stolen three or four years ago in Kane'ohe, but until yesterday had never had a van hijacked with passengers inside.

"It's a shame, it really is. I'm just glad the kids are OK. They're fine but I'm sure the mothers are gonna have nightmares for a while," Lozano said.

The company had suspended tours for the five previous days due to the rainy weather, Lozano said.

"We're taking a beating out here and all the other tour companies are as well, and now this happens," he said.

The company van driver had stopped at what is known as "Electric Beach" to let passengers stretch their legs and scan the ocean for whales, Lozano said.

The driver got out with them, but left the keys in the ignition with the motor running because the stop was meant to be very brief. The driver also wanted to keep the air-conditioning running and an adult had stayed behind with the girls, Lozano said.

The hijacking happened so quickly, the company driver didn't even see the man approach the van or get in, Lozano said.

Some of his customers have put personal items down and walked away momentarily only have those items stolen, Lozano said.

"But nothing even close to this has ever happened, thank God," said Lozano, who has two sons of his own, ages 9 and 17. "Something like this is a parent's worst nightmare. You read about and hear about tourists whose cars are broken into routinely, but not about vans being hijacked with people in them."

Lozano said he believes the man who hijacked the 14-passenger Ford E350 van and the one who followed the van were working together and had planned in advance to steal items from the van or possibly rob the tourists aboard it.

Rex Johnson, Hawaii Tourism Authority executive director, said the incident can't help but give Hawai'i tourism "a very black eye" and called it "the kind of thing that obviates spending millions of dollars on tourism promotion and advertising."

"We need to do whatever we can — be it through education or law enforcement or through the court system — to prevent things like this from happening," Johnson said.

Jessica Lani Rich, president and executive officer of the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawai'i, said her agency was working with the city Prosecutor's Office to assist the hijacking victims.

Lopez said he and his partner were planning to fly back to Colorado late yesterday afternoon and that the girls and their mothers told him they planned to leave for home today.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-7412.

• • •