Police were searching for a suspect Tuesday after a masked man stabbed an off-duty firefighter during what appears to have been a botched burglary at his home in the Enchanted Lake section of Kailua.
Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said the incident occurred between 8 and 8:30 a.m. and involved an unknown male suspect and the 36-year-old firefighter. No one had been arrested by Tuesday afternoon.
Yu said police opened a second-degree attempted murder and first-degree burglary investigation. She didn’t release additional details.
Honolulu Emergency Medical Services said the victim was treated at his Kahili Street home and taken to a hospital in serious condition with a single stab wound to his abdomen.
Honolulu Fire Department spokesman David Jenkins identified the victim as Christopher Takayama, a 14-year HFD veteran firefighter stationed in Windward Oahu.
Jenkins said Takayama had just finished a 24-hour shift when he was injured. Fellow firefighters and Emergency Medical Services personnel responded and provided Takayama medical treatment before he was transported.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with firefighter Takayama in his difficult time," Jenkins said. "We wish for a speedy recovery."
Keolu and Enchanted Lake elementary schools were briefly placed on lockdown at about 9:30 a.m. while police searched for the suspect, the state Department of Education said.
A woman at Takayama’s home, who did not give her name, said her husband had just returned home when he discovered the masked man inside. After a brief struggle the suspect stabbed her husband and fled, she said. The woman said her husband is a firefighter.
A woman who lives nearby said the incident was troubling because the neighborhood has many retired residents who are at home during the day.
"It’s disconcerting because we haven’t been robbed in this neighborhood for a long time," said the woman, who declined to give her name. "It’s really kind of creepy."
