Several gunshots were fired during a melee inside a Kapi'olani Boulevard condominium unit yesterday and police said it was amazing that none of the shots harmed any of the five people who were there.

Two men were arrested after the incident, which was reported at 8:58 a.m. and brought more than 30 officers to the building at 909 Kapi'olani Boulevard, said Honolulu police Lt. Bennett Martin. Arriving officers charged into the building carrying rifles.

Police initially thought they were responding to a hostage situation but quickly found something else.

Three men and two women were in unit 2405 when an argument erupted. The members of the group, all of them friends, had been out most of the night, drinking at various nightclubs, Martin said.

"During the course of the argument, a handgun was drawn," he said. "There was a wrestling match between the five parties and several shots went off. It was an argument over some form of debt."

A 27-year-old male resident of the unit suffered a dislocated left shoulder during the argument, Martin said. He was later arrested on four counts of kidnapping and four counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, he said.

A 26-year-old male visitor to the unit was arrested for having an unregistered firearm in his possession as well as for several outstanding arrest warrants, Martin said. It was not clear who originally had the weapon, a .38-caliber handgun.

Martin could not say how many shots had been fired, but there were bullet holes in walls and the floor. "We had numerous calls on this," Martin said. "Things like this are very, very dangerous to the public."

Residents were initially confused about what was going on. Police had to restrict access to the building for about 30 minutes.

Jennie Brewer, a 44-year-old resident on the 14th floor, was getting ready for her kickboxing class in her condo when she heard one of the gunshots around 9 a.m. "I was in the bathroom and I heard a shot right above me," Brewer said. "It was really loud. It sounded like a gun. It sounded like a shotgun. It was a loud bang."

Brewer went downstairs and was told that a suspect was still in the building.

"When they told me the guy was still in here, I said, 'I'm outta here,' " Brewer said.

Amy Lumeng was in her unit on the 27th floor of 909 Kapiolani when she heard a loud noise around 9 a.m.

"It was a loud sound," Lumeng said. "When I first heard it, I thought it came from the elevators because it reverberated."

Ramon Padilla, a 64-year-old retired Army major, was walking back to his 909 Kapiolani penthouse when he saw his building surrounded by officers around 9:30 a.m.

"This place was swarmed with policemen and not with little toy guns," Padilla said. "They had M-16s. It was dramatic."

Elaine Ah San, assistant plant manager for Flavors of Hawaii, which makes coconut syrups, was supervising a crew repainting the plant on the Waimanu Street side of 909 Kapiolani when officers sped up and pulled out weapons.

"The first thought that came to my mind is, 'If they are all taking their rifles out, should we be here?' " Ah San said. "They (police) said it was OK."

909 Kapiolani's first residents began moving in Aug. 28.