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Police and Fire


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POSTED: Monday, January 04, 2010

Gun, knife threats prompt arrest

A 24-year-old Waikele man was arrested yesterday on suspicion of attempted murder after he allegedly fired two gunshots into the air in a residential neighborhood not far from Waikele Center.

Police said the suspect, who was dropped off at home on Lumiaina Street by a friend, went inside and came out with two guns, firing two shots into the air about 3:30 a.m. yesterday.

His cousin, 38, who was a passenger in the car, disarmed him and hid the guns, police said.

The suspect then went back inside, came out with two knives and started swinging at his cousin, trying to persuade him to return the firearms, police said.

The cousin escaped uninjured and officers arrested the suspect. A firearm check showed one of the guns was stolen.

Police booked the suspect on suspicion of second-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree reckless endangering, a gun charge, kidnapping, terroristic threatening, third-degree assault and theft.

 

2 Oahu wildfires doused in a day

Firefighters extinguished two wildfires yesterday that apparently began with an unattended campfire and a tree touching an electrical line.

Firefighters responded to a 1-acre fire about two miles from Komo Mai Drive in Pacific Palisades at about 6:15 p.m. Saturday. An aerial assessment determined the fire was slow-moving, and firefighters decided to return in the morning, said Honolulu fire Capt. Terry Seelig.

At 9 a.m. yesterday a fire helicopter took four firefighters to the blaze, where they used hand tools and water packs to extinguish it in two hours. The fire apparently started from an unattended campfire, Seelig said.

At about 11:15 a.m. a second fire was reported in the mountains about one mile above Waiawa Correctional Facility.

Five firefighters reached the blaze burning up a steep slope by helicopter and fought the fire with hand tools and water drops by the fire chopper.

The 1-acre fire, which likely began when a tree came in contact with a power line, was extinguished at 3:30 p.m., Seelig said.

Neither fire caused any injures or property damage.

 

Crash victim ID'd as visitor

The Medical Examiner's Office has identified the woman killed in Friday's one-car crash in Kaaawa as Yuko Okayama of Tokyo.

The 74-year-old Japanese woman was one of three passengers in a gray 2000 Pontiac four-door.

The driver, a 50-year-old man from Tokyo, and two other passengers, a 47-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy, were taken in good condition to the Queen's Medical Center, police said.

Okayama was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The car was heading south on Kamehameha Highway at 4:40 p.m. Friday near Kaaawa Place when it veered right and struck a guardrail post.

The back-seat passengers, including Okayama, were not wearing seat belts, but the front seat occupants both were.

This was the first traffic fatality for Oahu compared with three at the same time last year.

 

Man, 36, sought in rape of woman

Police are looking for a 36-year-old man who allegedly kidnapped and raped a 31-year-old woman during a party Saturday in Pearl City.

At 3:30 a.m. the man coaxed the woman into his vehicle while at the party, then raped her, police said.

The woman tried to escape but was injured during the attack.

The man fled and remained missing yesterday, although the woman identified him to officers.