NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Truck runs over sunbather on sand

WAILUA, Kauai » A Kauai woman was run over by a lifted pickup truck with oversize tires Sunday on a beach near the Wailua Golf Course.

The woman, 38, who was not identified by police, was airlifted to the Queen's Medical Center and was listed in fair condition yesterday.

The driver of the vehicle, a 20-year-old Kapaa man, was not cited, but police said they are investigating.

According to county officials, he was driving along the water line and headed up the beach, in between two groups of sunbathers, and hit the woman.

HONOLULU

Police seek man in theft attempt

Police are looking for an armed man who failed in his attempt to rob a Pearl City store Sunday afternoon.

Police said the man entered the store at about 3:20 p.m. armed with a handgun. He approached the lone cashier, held a handgun to her side and demanded money, police said.

The woman refused to open the cash register and told the man police were coming, so the suspect tried to open the cash register himself, police said. When he failed to open the register, he fled on foot, taking nothing, police said.

7 brought out of Pearl City trail

Honolulu fire personnel used a helicopter to rescue seven hikers who were exhausted and did not have enough water to make it out of the Manana Trail in Pearl City.

Fire Capt. Terry Seelig said a party of nine, including two children, set out in the morning, but seven of the hikers were unfamiliar with the trail, which exceeded their abilities.

A fire helicopter crew located the group about four to five miles in from the trail head in Pacific Palisades, and flew the seven out.

Two experienced hikers with the group hiked out on their own, Seelig said.

WEST OAHU

Fire was arson, investigators say

Fire investigators determined that the fire at a vacant Waipahu building, formerly used as a medical clinic, was intentionally set.

The fire destroyed the one-story building at 94-939 Kahuailani St. at about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday and caused minor damage to the Del Rosario Medical Clinic behind it, fire officials said.

A care home next to the property self-evacuated, but no one was injured and residents were able to return to the home.

No damage estimate was made because the same building at 94-939 Kahuailani St. was damaged by fire June 4, 2006. That fire caused an estimated $200,000 damage, and its cause was undetermined.

The case has been turned over to police arson investigators.

Gun could be new murder evidence

Police have recovered possible new evidence in the high-profile murder case against a Salt Lake man accused of bludgeoning his ex-girlfriend in Kailua last January.

A resident on Likeke Place in Kaneohe reported finding a gun under her house Saturday, almost a year to the day after the Jan. 16, 2008, killing, police said yesterday.

The woman told police she recalled seeing the suspect in her yard. Police had said the night of the murder that they had recovered pieces of the firearm, which apparently broke apart.

Alapeti Tunoa Jr. is accused of ramming a sport utility vehicle into his ex-girlfriend Janel Tupuola's car, dragging her out from her car and beating her with the shotgun on Maluniu Street in Kailua. Tunoa also beat a bystander who tried to intervene, police said.

Tunoa awaits trial for second-degree murder, assault, property damage, terroristic threatening and firearm possession.

Man found unconscious in pool dies

A 19-year-old man who was a member of a local swim team died Sunday after he was found unconscious at the bottom of a University-area pool.

Police said the man had been practicing at the pool and had just completed a warm-up lap. He was last seen conscious at the side of the pool, and was found shortly thereafter at the bottom of the pool, police said.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed, and he was taken to an area hospital but could not be revived, police said. No foul play is suspected.