A 34-year-old man was arrested in connection with the stabbing of a 28-year-old Kalihi woman and her two young children in their home at a Kalihi public housing complex.
Police said the man, who has been convicted of some minor violent crimes, turned himself in at the main police station at about 4:15 p.m., some 11 hours after the stabbings. He was arrested on suspicion of three counts of first-degree attempted murder and one count of first-degree burglary. The man’s relationship to the three victims was unavailable.
A 6-year-old boy, an 8-year-old girl and the woman were stabbed multiple times and taken in serious condition to a hospital, said Emergency Services Department spokeswoman Shayne Enright.
"We believe the suspect knew the victims," said police spokeswoman Michelle Yu, who added she could not say what their relationship was. Nor would she provide a description of the man.
The triple-victim stabbing is highly unusual in Honolulu, where officials could not recall a previous incident in which young children were stabbed.
The first-degree attempted murder case comes 24 hours after a double killing, also in Kalihi, which police say was apparently not a random shooting, Yu said. No suspects have been arrested in the shootings.
A source with knowledge of the Monday case said the woman was stabbed all over her body and that all three victims were treated in a hospital’s intensive care unit.
The cases are unrelated, Yu emphasized, but in both cases the suspect is believed to be acquainted with the victims.
Police issued an all-points bulletin just after 5:30 a.m. Monday for a male suspect after the stabbing at Kalihi Valley Homes on Kalaunu Street.
The Hawaii Public Housing Authority said in a written response to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s questions that it is cooperating with police in the investigation. Twenty-four hour security is posted at the vehicle entrance to Kalihi Valley Homes, roving patrols are on site and the property is partially fenced. "Even with heightened security measures, we cannot prevent every incident that may occur on our properties," the authority said.
The housing authority is pushing for a bill at the Legislature to entirely close public housing properties to all but those authorized to be on-site.
Kalihi Elementary School, a few blocks from the crime scene on Kula Kolea Drive, went on lockdown at 9 a.m. Monday after a suspicious person matching the description of the suspect was reported on campus. Its 290 students were kept in their classrooms for an hour while police searched the campus.
Most parents were unaware of the lockdown.
Alexis Eade, 26, who was waiting for her 7-year-old daughter before school let out Monday afternoon, said, "I’m a little shocked and concerned. What if something happened at the school? … It’s scary because it’s your children."
"I hope and pray they’re OK," she said of the victims.
Each school establishes its own protocol to notify parents in such cases, said Department of Education spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz. The school sent students home with a letter notifying parents of the lockdown, Dela Cruz said.
According to the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, the suspect in the stabbings was convicted of misdemeanor harassment, violating a temporary restraining order, assault and abuse of a household member.
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Star-Advertiser reporter Michael Tsai contributed to this report.
