A man waiting for TheBus along a Kalihi sidewalk before sunrise last month was approached, physically attacked, and robbed by a stranger who then fled on foot with his property. Nearly two weeks later, the suspect remains unidentified, and Honolulu police are now asking the public to help track him down.
According to an official bulletin from the Honolulu Police Department, the robbery happened on July 31 at approximately 5:20 a.m. while the victim stood on a public sidewalk waiting for an Oahu Transit Services bus. The case has been assigned bulletin reference CID-26/0938 and handed to HPD's Criminal Investigation Division. As reported by Hawaii News Now, the suspect approached the victim, made verbal demands, and then attacked him before running off with his belongings.
Police released surveillance video Tuesday that shows the suspect putting his arm around the victim just before the attack began, according to the same HPD bulletin. Officers describe the suspect as an unknown male in his 20s with a short, husky build, a mustache, and a rat-tail hairstyle, who was wearing a black t-shirt and black shorts at the time. Anyone who recognizes him is being asked to contact police or CrimeStoppers.
A Pattern of Early-Morning Robberies in the Neighborhood
The bus stop mugging is not an isolated case for the neighborhood. One week earlier, on July 24, HPD responded to another early-morning robbery in Kalihi when a 56-year-old man was threatened at knifepoint inside his parked car around 6 a.m.; that case led to the arrest of a 29-year-old suspect on a first-degree robbery charge, per the same HPD account — a case Hoodline covered in Kalihi Man Confronts Knife-Wielding Car Thief. Just days before that, prosecutors had charged a 36-year-old man with first-degree robbery and vehicle theft after he allegedly brandished a handgun and demanded property at a Kalihi convenience store, according to KITV, in an incident Hoodline also reported as Armed Robbery At Kalihi Convenience Store.
The bus stop attack also lands amid heightened concern about violence at Oahu transit stops more broadly. Earlier this month, a 21-year-old man was fatally beaten by five men using a blunt object at a Waikiki bus stop on Kuhio Avenue, an attack that prompted a homicide investigation, as reported by Hawaii News Now. Kalihi itself sits at the center of Oahu's bus network — Oahu Transit Services operates TheBus across more than 3,800 active stops islandwide and runs its administrative headquarters out of a facility on Middle Street in the neighborhood, according to Oahu Transit Services.
What Riders Should Know About the Investigation
The robbery occurred within HPD District 5, a patrol area covering 36 square miles across central Honolulu — including Kalihi, Kapalama, and Moanalua — and serving roughly 147,400 residents, per the Honolulu Police Department. District 5 is headquartered at the Kalihi Police Station on Kamehameha IV Road, putting the department's own local command post just blocks from where the attack happened.
Under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 708-841, using physical force or the threat of force to overcome resistance during a theft is classified as Robbery in the Second Degree, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000, according to Justia Law. That statute would apply to a non-weapon physical attack of the kind described in the Kalihi bus stop case, should a suspect eventually be identified and charged.
Anyone who recognizes the man in the surveillance video is asked to contact CrimeStoppers Honolulu, which offers cash rewards of up to $1,000 for anonymous tips that lead to an arrest or identification of a suspect in felony cases. Tips can be submitted via the hotline at 808-955-8300 or through the P3 Tips mobile app, and tipsters remain anonymous throughout the process. The program has proven effective at scale: CrimeStoppers processed 3,285 anonymous tips during fiscal year 2025, forwarding 2,979 reports to law enforcement and helping resolve 656 cases across Oahu, Hoodline has previously reported.
It remains unclear whether investigators have identified any leads from the surveillance footage or received actionable tips since releasing the video. HPD has not announced an arrest in the July 31 case, and the department's public appeal for information suggests the suspect had not been identified as of this week.
