Disturbing attempted car jacking. Stay alert.

[ElysianWort]

I gathered with some friends this past weekend and heard a most disturbing story from one of them:

It was sometime last week I think betweem the 16th-20th, the young man was leaving his rented house, pulled out of the driveway with his Toyota truck, got out to close and lock the gate and of course left the truck running like most of us do. (I mean it usually takes all of 20 seconds max for us to do this)

Then a local youth popped out of the bushes and hops into my friend's truck and attempts to take off. The victim was quick enough to sprint to the truck open the door and pull out the carjacker. What ensued was a wrestling match on the side of the road for a few minutes. My friend got the upper hand and the jacker ran off.

According to him the offender was young, and fortunately for him, not overpoweringly strong. My friend only suffered a few scrapes from the tussle and did not lose his truck or suffer and damage to it. A very good outcome from a terrible event.

His truck is a beautiful, 4x4 lifted and surely tempting to the youth.

There's a turn off and a small road right before Ainaloa, when headed the Pahoa direction. He rents there in that area between Ainaloa and Orchidland, technically still Orchidland probably, on or around 38th st.

The house he is beautiful but happens to be surrounded neighbors with dilapidated structures and junk, rust bucket cars abound in their yard.

The cops were called and came out to make a police report but of course the car-jacker was nowhere around by that time. No arrests made and not a word from the police yet about the investigation.

This story is very real and after this somber discussion with him I looked for anything online to share with you guys and was more disturbed that a story like this wasn't made public. Not even a newspaper article. Of course the police told him they would look into it. (To me it's obviously the neighbors or someone associated with them). The person was in the bushes casing him.

Two days later when nobody was there for a few hours someone came and stole some tools and things from his garage.

We suggested to him: cameras, dogs and someone always staying home till he moves.

Be alert y'all!
What is our Puna coming to!?

[Rob Tucker]

Put a GPS tracker on anything large enough and valuable.

[ElysianWort]

Oh yeah, I felt it should be added that my friend used to live in Leilani but had been displaced and needed to find a rental in a hurry.

That place sure looked beautiful. Now we know why it was available.

[PaulW]

That's terrible! I wouldn't expect much from the police and to be fair, they don't have much to go on.
You can put a vyncs tracker in your vehicle, it's a one-off fee and it works great.
First and foremost of course, NEVER leave the keys in the ignition (I've done it too).
He should get some cheap security cameras.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

a local youth popped out of the bushes

I know you said he's only renting, but as a temporary measure he might collect some long pieces of thorny bougainvillea cuttings, and stuff them into the bushes where the kid was hiding. Even in Puna, old bougainvillea branches and thorns will last a good, long time.

If he's lucky, he may even hear his botanical theft deterrent system at work.

Is the jury still deadlocked? The odds that natural climate variability can account for the magnitude of the temperature changes over the course of the satellite record are roughly five in a million, researchers report. - Science, July 19, 2018.

[ElysianWort]

Good idea HOTPE but yes he is renting and now looking to move.
A lava refugee suffering the side effects of having to move his family in a hurry.

I stepped on a bougainvillea thorn recently that my parents planted in my yard when I was a kid. It went right through my shoe and left a hole in my foot for months. I dusted off my sthil chainsaw after that. Bougainvillea never again.

Yeah crazy tale of that carjacking, just be vigilant folks.

Bored ass dysfunctional punks in summertime with nothing to do but imitate Grand Theft Auto video games.

[AaronM]

Move.

[ElysianWort]

Thanks for that tip Aaron. Profound advise. Maybe read the thread a bit and see that he was moved there in a rush from lava and is now looking to move again of course.

As for leaving the keys in the car, we all know that is a no-no but in your own driveway! C'mon folks think about it, those of you with gates, who is guilty of leaving the car in neutral with the e-brake on to close the gate? Maybe a 20 second task. I am guilty of that.

Here's where dogs come in. There is no way any greaseball hiding in the bushes near my house would go unnoticed. The dogs would be barking and pointing, a dead giveaway.

[terracore]

Moving isn't always a viable option. I've lived in some unsavory places because like most of us my living options were limited by income. Some were downright dangerous but I was young, healed quickly, and had some sort of perceived immortality on my side.

Sounds like you're describing Ilma? I don't understand that area to be any better or worse than anywhere else in Puna.

What was said about dogs is dead on. If there is anybody within car jacking distance our dogs would go nuts. If they have been vocal or acting strangely I always take my keys out of the ignition when I close and lock the gate. Honestly my cars aren't worth fighting for, I have insurance, but I have principles. If somebody tries to grab my keys I'm tossing them over the fence so our dogs can get in on the action. (Knowing my dogs one of them would think I'm playing, grab the keys, and run and play "keep away" with them). Video recordings aren't frequently very valuable but I do have the gate and front area covered by CCTV so if I'm out there grappling with somebody at least it can go onto my "greatest hits" video.

[Punatic007]

Did he describe the kid? If your friend is on facebook, Big Island Thieves is a good place to post, lots of folks read it. His good neighbors can be on the look out if they know.