Hawaiʻi Police Department
Criminal Investigations Section, Area I
Lieutenant Gerald Wike
Phone: 326-4646, Ext. 266
Report No. C14013829
Media Release
Two Kona men are in police custody while detectives continue investigating a violent robbery early Tuesday in Kailua-Kona.
At 1:57 a.m. Tuesday (May 27), Kona Patrol officers responded to a report of a robbery outside a restaurant on the 75-1000 block of Henry Street.
Police determined that an acquaintance had reportedly approached a 25-year-old Kailua-Kona man and a 23-year-old Kailua-Kona man. He then reportedly struck the 25-year-old in the head, arms and legs with a blunt object and stole both their backpacks. The assailant then left the area in a black sedan being driving by a second man.
The 25-year-old victim was taken to Kona Community Hospital with serious head injuries and later transferred to The Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu, where he remains in stable condition. The 23-year-old victim was not injured.
A short time later, police located a car matching the description of the suspects’ car and learned that the sole occupant, 43-year-old Nohea Gene Heinicke of Kailua-Kona, was wanted on a bench warrant. He was arrested and charged with violating probation and held at the Kona police cellblock pending his initial court appearance on the bench warrant.
Meanwhile, at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, detectives arrested Heinicke on suspicion of robbery. At 1:25 p.m. Tuesday they arrested the second suspect, 28-year-old Randall Todd Chase of Kailua-Kona, also on suspicion of robbery.
Both suspects remain in police custody while detectives from the Area II Criminal Investigations Section continue the investigation.