NUUANU, Hawaii (KHON2) — Police have opened an attempted murder investigation after a man was allegedly set on fire in Nuuanu on Friday.
The 44-year-old man remains in the hospital in critical condition and police have a suspect in custody.
Honolulu Emergency Medical Services said about 80% of the victim’s body was burned in the incident that occurred around 8 p.m. on Friday. An area resident did not want to go on camera when KHON2 arrived on Saturday, but said two plainclothes officers were still investigating.
“I guess they were just kind of looking around. And then one of them asked me if I saw anything,” the resident said. “He told me that I, I guess it happened down in the stream somewhere and apparently the victim was able to somehow walk up to almost at Nuuanu Avenue.”
Defense attorney Megan Kau said murder or attempted murder cases involving fire are not common.
“It is rare. We really, we rarely see people lighting somebody on fire,” Kau said. “That’s, it’s pretty extreme, Yeah? It leads me to believe that the person is either suffering from some type of mental health disorder or it’s drug induced or it’s vengeance.”
Honolulu police did not confirm what type of accelerant was used or if they believe it was a random act. Security for nearby apartments told KHON2 that their incident report listed the victim had a strong smell of gas before they were picked up by EMS.
There are signs of homeless near the stream, but the nearby resident said they do not usually cause trouble.
“That’s, that’s unbelievable. I mean, there’s, you know, a handful of homeless that, you know, sometimes come down this way to, I guess access the stream. But then, you know, they, they pretty much keep to themselves,” he said.
Kau said an attempted murder conviction should be a done deal if the victim can identify the suspect. Other witnesses will be needed if the 44-year-old is unable to say who did it.
“Of course, we would need a witness to say that the defendant dumped the accelerant on the victim,” Kau said. “If the victim then comes to and we can interview the victim, it only strengthens the case.”
Police are also investigating a separate arson case in Palolo Valley where an unknown suspect allegedly threw flammable material at another person around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday — no arrests have been made.
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Police said the 50-year-old victim was not hurt in the Palolo case. Police arrest logs show that the Nuuanu suspect was arrested at 8:30 p.m. — about five hours before the incident in Palolo.