Makiki fires lead to arson charge

A 45-year-old Kapahulu man was charged Tuesday with arson stemming from several fires in Makiki last week.

Police said the man twice set fire to a car belonging to an ex-girlfriend and then tried to light fires to the doorways of two Wilder Avenue area apartments while people were sleeping. The incidents took place May 10-17, police said.

Thomas J. Chong turned himself in at the Alapai police station Monday. He was released on $100,000 bail after being charged with three counts of first-degree arson.

Diver dies in accident off Pearl Harbor

A 41-year-old man died Tuesday after a diving incident about two miles off Pearl Harbor.

Both the Coast Guard and the Navy responded to a call for help at about 2:30 p.m., a Coast Guard news release said. The caller reported an unresponsive man who had been conducting dive operations for Hukilau Foods. A Coast Guard boat brought the man to the pier, and paramedics took him to Pali Momi Medical Center, where he later died.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Washington man arrested in fatal attack

Hawaii County police have arrested a 46-year-old Washington state man on suspicion of murder in connection with the death of a 44-year-old woman at a Kohala Coast resort Monday night.

Police identified the victim as Susan Brockert of Bellevue, Wash., who was registered with the suspect at the resort.

Police responded at 11:18 p.m. Monday to an emergency call at a resort on North Kaniku Drive. Resort guests reported to resort employees that they heard screams coming from a guest room.

Resort security and staff rushed to the room, where one of them saw a woman inside allegedly being hit on the head with an object, police said.

Employees called 911, got into the room and held the man until police arrived.

The woman was taken by Fire Department personnel to North Hawaii Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 12:23 a.m. Tuesday.

Police arrested the man, also of Bellevue, on suspicion of second-degree murder.