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Suspected Waikiki bank robber turned over to feds

Kapahulu road, stores closed over bomb threat

The 45-year-old homeless man, who allegedly robbed the Waikiki branch of Bank of Hawaii Thursday and closed a stretch of Kapahulu Avenue for four hours because he told officials that he may be carrying a bomb, has been turned over to federal officials for prosecution.

The suspect was arrested an hour after the robbery of the bank, at 2:18 p.m. Thursday near the bike path along the Ala Wai Golf Course on Kapahulu Avenue.

After the man was detained, police called in a bomb unit to determine whether the man’s bag was dangerous, and closed Kapahulu Avenue between Leahi and Campbell avenues at about 2:40 p.m. The road was reopened at 5 p.m after the bomb disposal unit took an X-ray photo of the backpack and learned it only contained clothes.

The incident began at about 1 p.m. when a man walked into the Bank of Hawaii on Kalakaua Avenue and said he had a bomb.

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of first-degree robbery and then turned over to the FBI.

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