NANAKULI — Police yesterday apprehended a 20-year-old man who allegedly took a woman at gunpoint from an area residence following an argument involving a child.

The woman was not hurt in the incident, and police arrested the man at around 1:30 p.m. on suspicion of first-degree terroristic threatening and were holding him at the Kapolei police station yesterday afternoon.

The drama began in the early afternoon off Farrington Highway and Haleakala Avenue and worked its way to Mokiawe Street, where the suspect was taken into custody. Witnesses said a Honolulu Police Department helicopter and numerous officers were involved in the capture.

Police Maj. Michael Moses, who heads HPD's District 8, said the incident began when the suspect and his girlfriend, who apparently have a child together, got into an argument over the suspect visiting the child.

Moses said the suspect allegedly threatened the victim with a handgun during the confrontation and then took the woman away. Moses said the primary witness was the victim's mother, who was present when the altercation began.

"She (the mother) said they got into an argument, and during the course of the argument he pointed a gun at her (daughter), and they left the area together," said Moses.

While initial reports indicated that the suspect pointed a gun at the victim as they made their way through side streets and a canal toward Mokiawe Street, Moses said no gun was found when the suspect was arrested.

Witnesses on Mokiawe said there was no indication that the suspect had a weapon.

With the police helicopter flying overhead, one witness said numerous officers appeared from the hillside and chased the man down in the 300 block of Mokiawe Street. He said the victim was still with him.

"I saw the whole thing," said the man, who wouldn't give his name because he said he's a friend of the suspect. "The police was running in the mountains, and they came by my house. They said, 'Hey, you guys seen anyone running by here?' "

Seconds later, he said, police spotted the suspect and victim down the street and gave pursuit.

Another witness who also wouldn't give his name because he knows the suspect, said he encountered the couple walking together shortly before police arrived.

"He walked past me; he never had nothing — no gun — and him and his girlfriend was just grumbling," the man said.

He said moments later what appeared to be about a dozen officers hurried past, moving toward the man and woman.

"One cop came up to him and point his gun at him and told him to get down, so he just lie down on the ground, and that was it," the witness said. "Then they took him away."

He said the victim spoke with police for several minutes before she got into a police vehicle.

"The cops then took her home," he said.

The witness said the suspect is a "houseless" man who used to live on Haleakala Avenue, but now he "just lives all over." He described him as a "cool guy" who like to body board.