A manhunt is underway in Hawaii for a suspect who police say threw acid into a man’s face Friday night in Honolulu’s Chinatown district, leaving the 30-year-old in critical condition.
It is the third such acid attack on Oahu in the last two years, according to Hawaii News Now.
Witnesses told police the man was simply crossing the street when the perpetrator ran up to him and doused him with what was apparently sulfuric acid from a red bottle.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that the victim did not know the suspect,” a police spokesperson told news outlets. “Right now, detectives are canvassing the scene to recover any surveillance video and locate any additional witnesses.”
Police described the suspect in Friday’s attack as about 6 feet tall. He was wearing a fitted blue shirt and a “durag,” a close-fitting cloth tied around the top of the head to protect the hair.
Two years ago, a man threw acid at a 20-year-old woman in Mililani, leaving her in serious condition, Hawaii News Now reported. A similar attack happened months later, when a 25-year-old Chinese teacher on an exchange program was also doused with acid.
Those attacks appeared to be part of a “murder for hire” plot involving two different suspects who were eventually arrested.
As Breitbart News has reported, in this decade there has been a run of black-on-Asian attacks, with the most publicized incidents in New York City.
Police and news reports have given no indication of the race of the suspect or victim or if the attack is considered a hate crime.
The Honolulu Police Department lists the case as a first-degree assault, a felony that carries prison time.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
