By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Police use a fire department ladder truck to enter
an apartment near a barricaded suspect.

Kukui Plaza ‘bomb’
a hoax; man held

He holds off police for 7 hours; there
were only painting supplies
in his apartment

By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

A 35-year-old man arrested after a seven-hour standoff with police is awaiting a terroristic threatening charge today.

He was arrested after saying he was making a bomb in his sixth-floor apartment at Kukui Plaza and threatening to blow up the building.

But firefighters said nothing more dangerous than furniture finishing paints, varnishes or similar substances appeared to be in the apartment when they entered it after the standoff.

"It looked like he was building a chair or something like that, some kind of furniture," said fire Capt. Carter Davis of the Hazardous Materials team.

Building security guards had described what seemed to be a strong acetone odor coming from the apartment, Davis said.

When building security knocked on the door at 3:28 p.m., the man said he was making a bomb, threatened to blow up the building and slammed the door.

That started the standoff, which ended shortly before 10:15 p.m. when the man was apprehended by a police SWAT team.

"The suspect ended up opening the door to the apartment," said police Capt. Doug Miller. He said the suspect had been uncooperative with a police negotiator and that a slight struggle ensued before the man was arrested.

Other residents of the building at 55 N. Kukui St. said the suspect lived with his mother, but police said he was alone at the time of his arrest.

The suspect was taken to Queen's Hospital for mental observation, police said.