Suspect arrested in 26th-floor attack

Man held in attempt to push guard out window at Ala Wai Plaza

Honolulu police are charging a 42-year-old man with no local address with attempted murder after he allegedly tried to push a security guard through a glass window on the 26th floor of the Ala Wai Plaza apartment building Friday afternoon.

The 63-year-old guard apparently was responding after the suspect tried to enter a penthouse apartment on the top floor of the building at 500 University Ave. and attacked another man who lives next door with a fire extinguisher.

Police said there was a brief struggle and that the suspect then tried to push the guard through a glass window.

Pierre Jaffuel, 77, who lives on the top floor, said he saw blood on the elevator landing and in the elevator. He noticed broken shards of glass and a hole about 2 feet wide in a glass window near the elevator.

Police said the man had earlier tried to break into a 65-year-old man's apartment.

Jaffuel said he was taking a shower at about 5 p.m. when he heard a loud bang and his two dachshunds start barking.

"I didn't know what was going on. She (his wife) was too excited," Jaffuel said. "I walked outside. There was a guy standing there with a fire extinguisher in his hand."

He wasn't much bigger than Jaffuel, standing about 5 foot 7 inches tall and 160 pounds, but looked like he was a drug user, according to Jaffuel. The attacker had apparently taken the floor's extinguisher to break the door knob off the penthouse next door, Jaffuel said.

"He looked at me with the fire extinguisher and his hand up in the air like he was going to hit me with that thing," said Jaffuel, who backed up behind a gate that fronts his unit's door. The man bashed the fire extinguisher against the gate, breaking a half-inch square iron section, Jaffuel said, then shot the fire-retarding foam into his face.

"I was out because I couldn't see anything; I was blind," Jaffuel said.

He wasn't injured, but his eyes burned.

The whole time, Jaffuel's attacker never said a word.

"I never seen that man before," he said.

After washing his face in the sink, Jaffuel and his wife saw police on the floor and went outside.

What Jaffuel didn't see, police later reported as follows: A 63-year-old security guard tried to stop the attacker.

"We live in the building 15 years," Jaffuel said. "I've never seen anything like this. Maybe security themselves needs to be better equipped."

Police said the suspect fled on foot and was arrested on Lauiki Street on charges of attempted second-degree murder, attempted first-degree burglary and second-degree assault. The suspect, who is listed as homeless, has no previous criminal history.