Police, FBI seize ammo, guns from man in Waikiki hotel

The FBI and police seized multiple guns, including a semi-automatic rifle, a large amount of ammunition, high-capacity magazines and several military-style knives in a Waikiki hotel room occupied by a 38-year-old Makiki man.

Police committed the man, who was a guest at the Equus Hotel, for psychiatric evaluation, Honolulu Deputy Police Chief John McCarthy said Friday.

“Nobody was in danger, and everything he had was legal except for the high-capacity magazines,” he said. “There was no threat to anyone and no specific threat.”

McCarthy confirmed portions of a Hawaii News Now story on the recovery of an AR-15 rifle, a shotgun, two handguns, several military-style knives and a large amount of ammunition Thursday. The report said more than 800 rounds of ammunition were discovered. He said he could confirm there were 15 high-capacity magazines and body armor found, which the story reported.

McCarthy said that the individual and circumstances bore no resemblance to what preceded the Oct. 1 shooting at an outdoor music festival in Las Vegas.

In that case a 64-year-old Nevada man had assembled an arsenal of guns, including 14 AR-15 rifles, at the Mandalay Bay before firing roughly 1,100 rounds from his hotel suite into the crowd. Fifty- eight people died and 851 were injured in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

“Other than the fact that he had guns in a hotel room, there is no inference of a Las Vegas-style shooting,” McCarthy said.

“On the surface it sounds interesting and scary,” he said, adding that the man did not appear to be a threat or a danger to the public.

“Now (that) we got him and the guns, there’s no future danger,” he said.

McCarthy noted it’s not uncommon for people to bring their guns to a hotel, as in the case of someone who goes to a hotel while their home is being fumigated or has visitors from the mainland.

HNN reported that the FBI’s discovery of disturbing posts on social media by the man, who claimed to hunt terrorist cells, prompted the investigation and “raid.”

However, McCarthy said there was no raid, that it was patrol officers who went to the hotel room.

He also said no there were no big events, no large crowds and no opportunity to fire upon people as in the Las Vegas case.

The man had moved to Hawaii from the mainland and lived in Makiki for the last few years, McCarthy said.

“If he’s got a psychological issue, we may be able to prevent him from having the guns,” he said.