Posted on 07/01/2024 6:00:35 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Hawaii police arrested a man who allegedly robbed a wife and husband visiting from California and then proceeded to pursue them into a national park.
The Santa Cruz couple, Alex and Justina Lucero, said they were robbed at gunpoint and forced to hide on Haleakala volcano on Maui for 24 hours between June 4 and June 5. Maui police said they arrested Christopher Helmer on June 8 and he’s being held on $50,000 bail.
The Luceros, who perform in the Alex Lucero Band out of Santa Cruz, were on Maui to play two corporate events, according to a joint Instagram post shared June 19.
In their statement, the couple said they were driving on Piilani Highway in a rented Ford Mustang when a man in a Toyota Tacoma flagged them down and exited his car with a gun. They said they were told to get out of the car and start walking. The man then drove away with their rental car, the couple said.
However, the suspect allegedly doubled back, got out of the car and taunted the couple, “calling out to the victims and asking them if they wanted the car back,” according to a statement from Maui Police Department spokesperson Alana Pico.
“He continued calling out and looking for the victims, during which time he fired at least one shot with the pistol, causing the couple to believe he was shooting at them,” Pico continued. “Additional people arrived in the area, with the victims believing that these people were helping to look for them, including using a drone.”
Maui police said they are investigating the involvement of other people and the use of a drone.
The Luceros said they spent the next 24 hours hiding from the suspect on the volcano in the national park. A group of hikers and park rangers eventually assisted the Luceros in finding a visitor center, where they contacted police.
Following an investigation, police located and arrested Helmer three days later. He was previously arrested May 11 on suspicion of terroristic threatening and kidnapping but released after his ex-girlfriend posted the $55,000 bail, Helmer’s father told Hawaii News Now. On June 21, Helmer was indicted on eight charges.
The couple shared their joint statement June 19 to explain the canceled tour dates and adjustments to the band’s schedule.
“We are home. We are safe,” they wrote. “We are very fortunate to still be alive. Thanks to Maui Police Department this man is in custody.”
Editor’s note: SFGATE recognizes the importance of diacritical marks in the Hawaiian language. We are unable to use them due to the limitations of our publishing platform. [Racist tools.]
Santa Cruz is going to seem so boring now.
I was supposed to go see Haleakala in a helicopter, but it was raining, so we just drove up, and I ran around in the rain.
Maybe the armed robber was dyslexic, thought “Haleakala” meant “house of the gun”.
The thug was released on bail. He committed more crimes of a similar nature, so the judge released him on an even lower bail.
Huh? Wait. Armed? Hawaii? But,but,but...
Robber wouldn’t have had it written up if he’d waited and followed them back in CA and the theft was under $950.
Nice photo of Haleakala, but they weren’t hiding out at 10,000 feet.
Funny how the article goes out of its way to kneel to not using diacritical marks, taking up much column space explaining that they don’t have them, instead of just using apostrophes like everyone else does, and which they do have and could have used.
Does this score them higher in some sort of bizarre virtue signaling game?
An apostrophe cannot be substituted for a macron.
The name of the volcano is Haleakalā. Without the macron, it would mean "House of the Raspberry."
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Thank you for that clarification. However, they don’t even bother to write “Hawai’i”, although many do write that, and they could have written that.
Hey, I just stopped at the Food Bin last week.
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