Standoff ends peacefully with man’s arrest
The Honolulu Police Department SWAT unit prepared to mobilize at Kualoa Ranch yesterday afternoon as a manhunt for an armed man was under way in the area. The search for the suspect began after a failed carjacking took place and ended about 100 yards away at a home nearby.
Kualoa car-jacking suspect Scott Lee was brought into the Kaneohe Police Station for booking after receiving treatment at Castle Medical Center on Wednesday evening.
Traffic was detoured off Kamehameha Hwy through Kualoa Ranch Wednesday afternoon as a manhunt for an armed male suspect was underway in the area. The search for the suspect began after a failed car-jacking attempt and ended with a surrender at a home not far from the ranch on Kamehameha Highway.
A Honolulu Police Department helicopter landed in a field at Kualoa Ranch Wednesday afternoon during a manhunt for an armed male suspect. The search began after a failed car-jacking attempt and ended with a surrender at a home not far from the ranch on Kamehameha Hwy.
Kualoa car-jacking suspect Scott Lee was brought into the Kaneohe Police Station for booking after receiving treatment at Castle Medical Center on Wednesday evening.
The Honolulu Police Department SWAT deployed from Kualoa Ranch during a search of an armed male suspect on Wednesday afternoon The search for the suspect began after a failed car-jacking attempt and ended with a surrender at a home not far from the ranch on Kamehameha Hwy.
Traffic was diverted away from Kamehameha Highway through Kualoa Ranch yesterday for more than three hours.
A 30-year-old Enchanted Lake man holed up in a beachfront home in the Kualoa Ranch area yesterday after allegedly committing an armed robbery and botching a carjacking. The standoff led to the closure of Kamehameha Highway for three hours.
He was arrested on suspicion of robbery and burglary.
A man approached an oceanfront home at 49-839 Kamehameha Highway with a rifle about 1:30 p.m., police said. The man confronted a resident before grabbing some items and fleeing up the driveway to Kamehameha Highway, said Honolulu police Lt. John Vines of the Kaneohe District.
With the rifle still in hand, the man tried to get into a car on the highway, but the driver got away and reported the incident from his home in Hauula, police said.
The suspect fled along Kamehameha Highway about 100 yards before slipping into an empty home below the highway at 49-829 Kamehameha Highway.
Patrol officers cornered him on the property and called the police Specialized Services Division, which brought in dogs, a helicopter, a bomb squad and an armored vehicle.
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More than two dozen police officers responded.
Police closed Kamehameha Highway about 2 p.m., turning around drivers in both directions.
The standoff came to a close several hours later when SWAT officers, in a black armored vehicle, drove to the property and called the suspect out of the house with a bullhorn. He exited peacefully, and witnesses were able to identify him as the suspect, police said. No one was hurt.
Police reopened the road shortly before 5 p.m. but detectives continued to search the home last night where the man had barricaded himself, searching for the rifle.
Throw Ryuken, who lives next door, said officers had ordered him back inside after going on his porch to check on the commotion.
Heavily armed officers combed the beach looking up at the house and officers from his balcony eyed the house through a border of brush.
"It was like ‘Call of Duty,’ " Ryuken said, referring to a video game. "We had two snipers walking on the roof."
About a mile away at Kualoa Ranch, Vaipuna Iafeta’s tour was interrupted by a low-flying police helicopter barking over a loudspeaker for him and his six Japanese charges to clear the area. The standoff forced the ranch to cancel its last tour of the day about 10 minutes before it was to begin at 3:30 p.m., said David Morgan, the ranch operations manager.
Officers took the suspect to a hospital for an evaluation before arresting him about 7:20 p.m. at the Kaneohe substation. He was arrested on suspicion of first-degree robbery, second-degree robbery and first-degree burglary.
The suspect has nine convictions, including for four burglaries, two stolen vehicles, and escape, according to the state criminal database. He was sentenced to a 10-year sentence for burglary on Jan. 22, 2001.
