After a four-hour search along the rugged slopes of Koko Crater, police last night captured a 19-year-old man from Kalihi who is believed to have randomly stabbed two men on the trail up the mountain.

The stabbings happened around 3:22 p.m., while two dozen hikers were on the popular trail. One of the victims, who is believed to be in his 20s, was in critical condition with multiple stab wounds. The second man was in his 50s and was in serious condition from a single stab wound to his back. Both were taken by city Emergency Medical Services personnel to local trauma centers, said Bryan Cheplic, EMS spokesman.

Police said they have opened two attempted murder investigations in the case. The victims were not identified.

Police responded quickly to the initial call, setting up a perimeter around the mountain. Police helicopters were dispatched to assist dozens of police officers in the search.

Shortly after 7 p.m., residents reported hearing a man yelling from the mountain, at the side opposite the ridge where the attacks occurred. Police found the man in a tree shortly after 8 p.m. on the mountain above Kapaia Street.

Jonessa Halsey, 15, said she heard the man yelling that the police should come and get him, that he was unarmed and the government could have everything he owned.

"We heard him say that he gave up and we called 911 then," Halsey said. "He's been yelling non-stop."

Because of the darkness and terrain, the man was taken off the mountain by helicopter to a mobile command center at Koko Head District Park. The man emerged from the helicopter naked except for a shoe on one foot and a torn sock on the other. Officers wrapped him in a yellow tarp before putting him in a police car. The suspect smiled briefly as he spotted reporters outside the perimeter.

He was taken to an area hospital for treatment of minor scrapes.

"The most important thing is that through the good work of the responding officers we were able to create a perimeter where he could not come down and escape from the mountain," HPD Major Frank Fujii said.

HIKERS WARNED

Witnesses on the hiking trail said the man was wearing only black boxer shorts when the stabbings occurred.

The man passed many of them going up and down the trail, which was significantly less busy yesterday than would be normal for a Sunday because of the Super Bowl.

"I was coming down when a girl told me not to go to the top because there's a man up there with a knife," said hiker Karen Watase.

Lynell Uyeda and her family were hiking to the 1,208-foot summit along the abandoned tramway on the west side when she saw one of the injured men.

"We were by the old bunkers," Uyeda said. "My mom stayed with the man and we went back down.

"It was scary. It never occurred to me that someone would do something like this. We thought no one would be up here."

Crowds of onlookers waited to see what had happened. Hikers were cleared off the mountain by about 5 p.m., and helicopters buzzed overhead well past 8 p.m. as police attempted to bring the suspect down the mountain.

The stabbing victim in his 50s was helped by several hikers, including two sisters who hike the old tram tracks regularly. Gerri Watanabe, a Kaimuki resident, was with two teenage hikers, Claire Gordon and Lukas Baroza, who helped apply pressure to the man's stab wound, she said. The teenagers said the man was taken off the mountain by a fire department helicopter.

"We passed the suspect," Watanabe said. "We were already at the top. We used my towel to apply pressure to the man's wound."

The man had been sitting talking on the telephone when he was stabbed, Watanabe said.

Her sister, Steph Hong, said that the other victim was in a ravine, inside the crater rim. She tried to climb down to him, but he was in a spot that was too steep.

"What a scary afternoon," Hong said.

Gordon said she heard fighting between the suspect and the man in his 20s.

Before it became dark, police had set up a perimeter along all the hiking trails and had planned to use heat-detecting FLIR devices on the helicopters after nightfall, but then the man was heard along Kapaia Street.

"I just can't believe this happened," said Michelle Yoshioka, a Kapaia Street resident. "We were all watching the television and then we heard the man yelling."