A man who had barricaded himself and his girlfriend in a Waikiki hotel room yesterday surrendered after a seven-hour standoff with police. Surrender ends 7-hour
Waikiki standoffBy Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.comThe incident backed up traffic into Waikiki starting at 10 a.m. as a portion of Kalakaua Avenue and surrounding streets were closed to cars, pedestrians and buses for about four hours.
Braze Kapeliela, 31, surrendered just before 4 p.m. yesterday. He and his girlfriend were taken into custody.
Kapeliela was arrested on at least four warrants, including a $30,000 felony contempt warrant issued on Dec. 28 for failure to appear for sentencing on an auto theft conviction, said Capt. Doug Miller, executive officer of the Specialized Services Division, known as the SWAT team.
Asked what led to the peaceful resolution, incident commander Capt. Greg Lefcourt attributed it to "good negotiations by our trained personnel."
The standoff started about 8:30 yesterday morning when police tried to serve Kapeliela with outstanding warrants at his 23rd-floor room at the Ohana Maile Sky Court hotel at 2058 Kuhio Ave.
Kapeliela may face other charges as he was also wanted for questioning in several other felony cases involving two robberies, two auto thefts and a criminal property damage case, said Detective Letha DeCaires of CrimeStoppers.
"This is a perfect example of the reason I profile someone for CrimeStoppers," DeCaires said. "He was believed to be actively involved in violent criminal behavior, and we needed the public's assistance in locating him."
Kapeliela was spotted the night before by officers in the Waikiki Crime Reduction Unit. "Good police work, observant officers in Waikiki, made the difference," DeCaires said.
Miller said police negotiations with both Kapeliela and his girlfriend did not indicate she was being held against her will. But, he said, police will question her further to determine whether she was speaking under duress.
It was unclear last night whether she was booked or just taken in for questioning.
Miller said there were at least two family members at the scene who provided background information that helped the negotiations end peacefully.
He did not know their relationship to Kapeliela.
During the standoff, police did not know if Kapeliela was armed, but they closed the roadways as a precaution. Whether he was indeed armed was unclear, but Miller said, "When we made entry, we did not see a gun in plain view."
The 23rd floor of the hotel was evacuated shortly before 9 a.m., and only hotel guests were allowed in and out of the building, said Jim Austin, public relations director for Outrigger Hotels & Resorts. All 13 guests staying on the 23rd floor were relocated to other rooms in the hotel, he said.
Police also closed traffic into and out of the parking garage for a while. Other than that, guests could "come and go from the property," Miller said.
"There was a little inconvenience there early on for those on that floor," he said, adding that the hotel was taking its lead from the police. "They're the experts in what is safe," he said. "Whatever they tell us, we do."
Danna Reyes, a hotel guest visiting from San Clemente, Calif., said she is accustomed to police situations, which happen frequently where she comes from. But noticing a couple of armed SWAT members running down the street, she said, "I was kind of freaked out seeing that."
Her friend Jackie Stewart had been evacuated from the hotel's pool at about 11 a.m., and Reyes said: "You come on vacation, you go to Hawaii, you don't expect this to happen. When you're on vacation, it's an inconvenience."
Kapeliela has a criminal history.
In the auto theft case, Kapeliela had pleaded no contest in October for stealing a motorcycle in Palolo two months before.
While he has only one adult conviction, a document in Kapeliela's file was stamped "major offender," indicating he has had previous contacts with law enforcement, possibly as a juvenile. At his sentencing, the deputy prosecutor who sought a warrant for his arrest also indicated Kapeliela had two pending grand jury matters.
Kapeliela faced a maximum five years' imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine for the motorcycle theft.
A Family Court judge granted a permanent restraining order that is effective until June 2003. Kapeliela is prohibited from contacting his two minor daughters and his wife, who alleged he had been physically and psychologically abusive to her, and from possessing any firearms.
Star-Bulletin reporter Debra Barayuga contributed to this report.