A 23-year-old man is in Honolulu police custody after allegedly setting fire to a 45-year-old woman’s tent in Kalihi while she was still inside it, following an argument that erupted before dawn. No injuries were reported in the incident, which unfolded in two distinct stages hours apart on the same morning.
According to KITV, the man first intentionally damaged the woman’s tent with a metal object during an argument that broke out around 4:15 a.m. He then left the area, only to return at about 11:05 a.m., when the two began arguing again. It was during that second confrontation that police say he used a torch lighter to ignite the tent while the woman was inside, before fleeing the scene ahead of officers’ arrival.
The woman contacted police herself and identified the 23-year-old as the person responsible for both damaging and later setting fire to her tent, per the same outlet’s reporting. Officers subsequently located the man and arrested him without incident. He remains in custody pending further investigation, and police have not released additional details about the case, including whether the two had any prior relationship or the exact street where the tent was located.
Fire Reported in a Densely Unsheltered Corner of Oahu
The Kalihi area falls within the Honolulu Police Department’s Patrol District 5, which operates out of a station on Kamehameha IV Road and also covers Iwilei, Kapalama, Alewa, Fort Shafter, Moanalua, and Salt Lake, according to the Honolulu Police Department. The neighborhood sits within Region 1, which a May 2024 HomeAid Hawaii analysis of Partners in Care census data found accounted for 24 percent of Oahu’s unsheltered homeless population — the island’s second-largest concentration…