Honolulu police arrested a 51-year-old man on suspicion of terroristic threatening after an early-morning argument in downtown Honolulu allegedly escalated into him grabbing a firearm and threatening a woman. The woman fled the scene and reported the incident to police, and the man remained in custody pending an investigation.
According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the confrontation happened at about 3 a.m. Tuesday in downtown Honolulu, when an argument between the man and a woman turned into the alleged gun threat. KITV cited police documents identifying the woman as 40.
Per the same Star-Advertiser account, police arrested the man on suspicion of alleged abuse and first-degree terroristic threatening, and he remained in custody as of Tuesday afternoon pending further investigation. KITV's report adds that the argument escalated when the man allegedly grabbed a firearm and threatened the woman, and that station notes no injuries were reported and no additional information had been released.
How Hawaii Law Treats the Alleged Threat
Under Hawaii Revised Statutes §707-716, first-degree terroristic threatening is generally classified as a class C felony, according to the statute published by the Hawaii State Legislature. The law allows for an upgrade to a class B felony in certain circumstances involving a firearm or simulated firearm at specified locations, though it is not established whether those enhanced conditions apply in this case.
A Pattern of Alleged Gun and Pellet-Gun Threats Statewide
The downtown Honolulu arrest follows a similar case on Hawaii Island, where police arrested and charged 31-year-old Jerry “Mana” Ke after an alleged pellet-gun incident at a Pahala shopping center on October 2. KITV reported that two people said Ke pointed a pellet gun directly at them in separate instances, including at one man's head, and he was charged with two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, with bail set at $13,000 as he remained in custody in lieu of payment.
Statewide crime figures published by the Hawaii Office of the Governor show that the City and County of Honolulu recorded 30,758 offenses in 2025, a rate of 3,116.3 offenses per 100,000 residents that marked a 16.6% drop from 2024's total crime rate. It is unclear whether this week's downtown incident will be reflected in that dataset.
No further details have been released about the man's identity, the exact location of the confrontation, or whether a firearm was recovered during the investigation. Police have not announced a court date or confirmed formal charges beyond the suspicion of arrest reported Tuesday.
