HPD: String of carjackings on Oahu could be linked to mall smash-and-grabs

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - In a twist, police are looking into whether a series of carjackings on Oahu over the weekend are connected to recent smash-and-grab burglaries at two Macy’s stores.

Those crimes also involved stolen vehicles and men wearing masks.

Meanwhile, photos provided to Hawaii News Now appeared to show the vehicles stolen in the carjackings Sunday parked at the Safeway parking lot on Beretania Street. The photos showed men in the vehicles.

One of the cars visible in the photos is apparently the same blue Subaru reported stolen following a carjacking around 11 a.m. Sunday on Lusitana Street. The victim told police two men, one with a mask and a gun, fired a shot into the air and forced him to get out of his vehicle.

About three hours later, two suspects both masked and armed with guns, robbed three tourists in Kailua.

The victims told police they were driving a blue Subaru.

Two hours after that, a 69-year-old man told police he was beaten and carjacked by men driving a blue vehicle in Niu Valley.

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re going to kill me. That’s what I was thinking,” said Teodoro Agcaoili.

Sisters Jessica Wood and Lexi Browning said they got into a fender bender off Nimitz Highway in Kalihi around 5 p.m. Sunday and pulled into a 7-Eleven to exchange information.

“The next thing we know, one just runs and jumps in the car,” said Wood. “Jumped in it and left and then they were followed by a blue Subaru and a silver Toyota 4Runner.”

[Read more: ‘God saved me’: 69-year-old recounts violent carjacking]

Browning has a far more urgent need to get her belongings back. Along with her rental car, the thieves stole her heart medicine.

“Her medicine is like a really big thing because she can’t be more than 15 minutes late on her medicine or she could start rejecting,” said Wood.

Browning has a small supply left but is quickly running out of the medicine that helps her body maintain her newly transplanted heart —the same heart that fell in love with Hawaii on her Make-A-Wish trip in 2013.

“I wanted to come back because I liked it from my Make-A-Wish trip and I always wanted to come back. But not anymore,” Lexi said.

If you have any information, call Crimestoppers at 955-8300. Tips can remain anonymous and you can be eligible for a reward.

Copyright 2019 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.