A 24-year-old woman broke free from an alleged kidnapping attempt in broad daylight at a Honolulu garage before a witness intervened.
The attack unfolded around noon Monday near the Diamond Head Gold Coast neighborhood on Oahu, where the young woman was walking with an elderly female friend. An unidentified man stalked the pair from behind, confronted them after a brief chase, and grabbed the younger woman, according to footage of the incident.
“He shoved me away from my friend and he picked her up,” the elderly companion told Hawaii News Now. “He looked like a monster. He just had so much hatred and craziness in his eyes.”
The man, described as notably large in stature, carried the struggling woman toward his vehicle. She continued fighting as he wrangled her across the garage area.
“I was yelling, ‘Help! Help!’ and she was yelling, too,” the elderly woman said. Her friend pleaded with the attacker throughout the struggle. “She was saying, ‘You don’t want to do this. Don’t do this.'”
The older woman added that she was praying bystanders would hear their screams. “I’m kind of praying. Praying that people will hear us,” she said. “It was scary and she was giving a fight.”
The 24-year-old broke free and fell to the ground just before the man reached his car. A witness then approached, causing the suspect to put his hands up before he fled the area in his truck.
Beverly Louis, another witness who stepped in, said she screamed repeatedly at the attacker to release the woman. “I just started screaming, ‘Drop her! Drop her! Drop her!'” Louis said. “She was screaming for her life. She was terrified.”
Neighbor Mike Finkelstein also confronted the man during the incident. “Let her go. I’ve called the police. I’m coming down there after you,” he said.
Hawaii police located and apprehended the suspect approximately three hours after the attack. Officers found him running naked down 22nd Avenue and Diamond Head Road. He was arrested on charges of kidnapping and second-degree assault.
The incident, captured on video, has left area residents shaken. The footage shows the man initially trailing the two women before the physical confrontation, then carrying the younger victim toward his vehicle as both women screamed for help.
The elderly woman emphasized the terror of seeing her friend in danger. “He looked like a monster,” she repeated in her account to local news.
Police have not released additional details about the suspect’s identity or potential motive.