Armed robbery at soccer practice puts parents on alert

The gunpoint robbery Monday of a soccer mom who was waiting in her car while her daughter practiced at Kapiolani Park has parents and their children on alert to avoid being victimized.

“It’s scary,” said Sharnell Shimamoto, whose daughter also practices at the park. “We just have to be on guard all the time now. … We usually are together, but we do wait in our cars at times.

“Now everyone will watch each other’s back,” said Shimamoto, who forwarded an email about the robbery to soccer parents. “It’s sad that that’s how it is now. You see it in your communities. It’s (about) making our kids aware of their surroundings, and that they stay with people, stay with their friends. That’s what I tell my daughters.”

Police said the 46-year-old woman was seated in her vehicle while parked at Kapiolani Park at about 5:20 p.m. Monday when a man entered from the passenger’s side, showed her a handgun and demanded her belongings.

Scott Keopuhiwa, president of the Hawaii Youth Soccer Association, said he was coaching the woman’s daughter’s team at the time.

The woman told him that an unknown man entered her car, pointed a gun at her and forced her to drive him around Kapiolani Park. He eventually ordered her to stop the car, and he fled with her jewelry, purse and cellphone, Keopuhiwa said.

“Physically she’s OK, but she is shaken up,” he said.

“We probably all let our guard down,” he said, adding it occurred in broad daylight.

“The incident shocked everyone,” he said. “It was such a brazen crime and you don’t expect that kind of thing.”

He wrote to soccer parents, urging everyone to “always be cautious of their surroundings.”

Police have opened a first-degree robbery investigation.

CrimeStoppers is asking for help in finding the suspect, who is described as in his 30s, standing about 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 160 pounds.

A suspect was caught on a video surveillance camera at a store in Haleiwa where he allegedly used a credit card stolen from the victim. CrimeStoppers also issued photos of the man’s car.

Anyone with information about the suspect or the crime is asked to call 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cellphone or text “CS808.”