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.