Honolulu PD response to manhunt questioned after social media warns the public of dangerous gunman
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HONOLULU (KITV) — Many are wondering whether the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) could’ve done a better job warning the public about gunman on the loose.
“It could’ve ended much, much worse,” said hijacking victim Erin Valentine.
A day after being hijacked in Temple Valley, Valentine is amazed that she and her mother walked away unscathed. She was on her way grocery shopping when a man in a white SUV crashed into an oncoming car.
“He came out of the driver’s side window, like crawled out of the driver’s side window, and my mom was like are you OK? And he goes, ‘Yes aunty, I’m OK’ and then that’s when I noticed he had a rifle in his hand,” she said.
After calmly pointing the gun at her and telling her to get out of her car, Valentine immediately took to social media posting a picture of the man — now known as Sidney Tafokitau — spurring a firestorm of videos from across the island.
“It became a deluge of posts of HPD chasing a vehicle — a Scion — being one after another, you know, the fact that there’s posts about you know, lights and sirens and chasing, gunshots and things of that nature,” said Michael Kitchens, who runs Stolen Stuff Hawaii on Facebook. “Just one after another. It was pretty spectacular.”
Police were chasing Tafokitau across the island since the early morning on New Year’s Day when sources say he shot his ex-girlfriend on Moanalua Freeway.
All the while, issuing a single CrimeStoppers alert.
“Everything that you learned about his whereabouts were off social media,” Valentine added. “So it really was the power of the community that kept everyone informed on how to be safe.”
Chief Joe Logan explained that HPD could not notify the public because the situation was fluid. He also didn’t want anyone else getting involved in the manhunt.
But after her ordeal, Valentine is hoping that changes.
“If there’s a crazy person with a gun running around the island shooting indiscriminately at people, I think that that alert that goes out to all of our cell phones could’ve be used for that as well,” she said.
The two police officers injured during the shootout with Tafokitau are still recovering in the hospital. HPD hasn’t responded to requests for comment.
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