LIHUE — The Kauai Police Department is looking into a possible mob attack early Sunday morning in Polihale State Park. A Kilauea woman reported that her 20-year-old brother was part of a group of about 15 young men and women
LIHUE — The Kauai Police Department is looking into a possible mob attack early Sunday morning in Polihale State Park.
A Kilauea woman reported that her 20-year-old brother was part of a group of about 15 young men and women ages 14 to 25 that was attacked late night in the park. She said the North Shore group had tents set up and was playing music when they were confronted by about 30 adult men who told them to leave.
Megan Wong, a sister of one of the alleged victims, said that around midnight a mob of men approached her brother’s group and told them they would take what they wanted and started fighting with them. The group reportedly stole camping equipment and items from vehicles before damaging the cars with baseball bats.
“There were threats that they had guns waiting in the parking lot,” she said. “They took pop up tents, sound systems, generators, coolers, and anything else from their trucks or pockets that they demanded.”
Wong said the men, appearing to be over age 30, left shouting, “Westside united!”
Kauai police logged two second-degree thefts in Polihale on Sunday at 2 a.m. and at 8 a.m. A third-degree assault was reported at 3:28 a.m.
According to KPD, officers responded to an anonymous phone call reporting an assault. When officers arrived on scene they found no evidence of an altercation, or any victims or witnesses.
Wong said most of the group disbanded after the attack and left the beach. Her brother and a friend went to a cousin’s camp site and stayed until later Sunday morning.
“Everyone else was forced to leave that night,” Wong said.
A young woman managed to record a video clip of a fight that started early in the confrontation. The confrontation quickly accelerated out of control and the video cuts off as people are running away screaming.
“North Shore, or Westside, locals or visitors alike, this kind of thing should not happen,” Wong said.
Police arrived around 5 a.m., five hours after the incident, and everyone had left by then, she added.
Wong said she is concerned her brother and others suffered injuries that need to be treated. She also wants people who were there to report it to police to help gather information to build a case.
“I am trying to encourage them to say that something happened,” she said.
This was the first time it happened to her brother, but Wong said others told her groups like this attacked people as recently as six months ago.
As a lifelong resident of Hawaiian descent, Wong said she wants to understand if this was a territorial thing or if it was some sort of retaliation for something that might have happened to someone from the mob on another part of the island.
“We need to get to the bottom of this,” Wong said.
Police are asking anyone with information on this reported incident to call 241-1711. Anonymous tipsters may call CrimeStoppers at 241-1887.
