LIHU‘E — An employee of the Lihu‘e Airport got a nasty surprise late last month when she found that a vandal had busted the left rear window of her vehicle. Her automobile was one of four shot by a pellet
LIHU‘E — An employee of the Lihu‘e Airport got a nasty surprise late last month when she found that a vandal had busted the left rear window of her vehicle.
Her automobile was one of four shot by a pellet gun.
“No one heard it, no one saw it, it’s just people getting back to their cars,” said Dan Meisenzahl, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
The Kaua‘i Police Department is investigating the incident, county spokeswoman Sarah Blane said, but has no suspects or leads. Police believe a pellet gun was used in the attack.
Rear window
The customer service agent for an airline at the airport reported the damage to security at about 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 30, but the shooting could have occurred much earlier, Meisenzahl said. She had parked at about 2 p.m. that day, and left her purse inside the automobile. It remained untouched.
After security checked on the woman’s vehicle, and waited for police to arrive, they found three more damaged vehicles in the lot. All belong to airport employees.
The others include a Ford Ranger, a Ford pickup and another truck — no make or model available. Each had a shattered rear window and a small pellet hole in the remaining glass.
There were no further details about the first victim’s vehicle, although she and another woman said they had no reason to believe they were targeted.
A cost estimate of the damages was unavailable.
Surveillance and security
DOT employees reviewed surveillance videos for the shootings, but their cameras did not catch any footage of the area where the vandalism occurred, Meisenzahl said.
Security had checked the parking lot at 3:35 and 7 p.m., but didn’t notice anything suspicious.
The DOT spokesman said he isn’t sure of the proximity of the damaged cars to each other.
Other cases
Meisenzahl could think of no similar cases in recent history of similar vandalism at the airport, but he does find the activity concerning.
“If someone is shooting the windows of cars — whether it be at the airport or a neighborhood — it’s unacceptable and we really hope the police catch whoever did this,” he said.
He saw no connection between the incident and vandalized DOT equipment in December, when someone broke the windows of a flail mower and extension mower parked on the shoulder of Kaumuali‘i Highway near Kahili Mountain Park. Nor does he believe it’s tied to someone shooting an excavator by Princeville Airport in 2009.
“We’re at a loss for a motive,” Meisenzahl said.
Anyone with information concerning these incidents are asked to call DOT at 241-3032 or Kaua‘i Police Department at 241-1711.
• Jessica Musicar, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or by e-mailing jmusicar@kauaipubco.com.
