HILO — Kupono Kon-Kahakai said he first knew something was amiss when he heard yelling.
“Why’s he running? Why’s he running?” the 24-year-old Hilo resident recalls frantically being shouted.
It was Aug. 30, sometime after noon, and Kupono, along with his brother, Hamakua, 18, were at Hilo Farmers Market sitting near family friend Chelcee Naldoza’s jewelry vendor booth.
“We were just cruising with Auntie Chelcee talking stories,” Kupono recalls. “We heard (the yelling). I turned, and that’s when Auntie Chelcee was like, ‘He’s a thief, someone catch him!’”
When Kupono turned around, he saw 27-year-old suspect Kawa Salas — unidentified at the time — making away with a container of money allegedly stolen from a market vendor. That’s when the brothers say adrenaline kicked in. They took off after Salas on foot, continuing even when Salas jumped on his bicycle.
“When I saw him (taking off with the money), I remember running toward him,” Kupono recalls. “And he jumped on his bike, the money box in his left hand, and turned back to me and was like, ‘Yee hee.’ I was like, ‘Oh really?’ So I started running after him.”
As it turns out, Salas was no match for their speed — even on bicycle. After a 10-minute chase around town, the boys say they cornered him on a grassy field behind Liko Lehua Cafe on Pauahi Street. They ultimately recovered the $372 in stolen cash and say they detained Salas until police arrived.
“When we got to him, (Salas) kept saying like, ‘Oh it wasn’t me, it was my friend, they just told me to run,’” Kupono said. “I was like, ‘No, I saw you. You looked straight at me and said, ‘Yee hee.’”
The chase ended when Salas grew tired from riding the bike on the grass and jumped off, Kupono said. The brothers however, weren’t fatigued. Despite the sprint, they were still “kind of pumped up with the whole situation,” Kupono said.
Police arrested Salas for stealing $372 in cash from a vendor, according to Hawaii Police Department spokeswoman Chris Loos. Salas was charged with misdemeanor third-degree theft. Loos said she had no information about the brothers or their involvement.
Salas was arrested again Thursday for his alleged involvement in a robbery of a 59-year-old man at Kuhio Beach Park. He was charged with second-degree robbery, which is a felony, in connection with that incident.
Lorato Balicoco, the Hilo Farmers Market vendor whose money was stolen Aug. 30, said he was grateful the boys helped him out. Balicoco said his family has sold produce at the market for nearly a decade, and that the money box was briefly left unattended.
“I was happy they chased him down,” Balicoco said Tuesday. “I was happy to get the money back.”
Naldoza was so proud of the brothers that she posted about their good deed on Facebook. She said she hopes their story will demonstrate “good things happen to good people” and that “good karma comes back.”
“It’s cool to see that young men today are still raised properly to do the right thing,” she said.
The brothers told the Tribune-Herald they would do it all again if needed.
“People put their hard work into selling things at the market,” Kupono said. “They work hard to make money and to take away someone’s hard-earned money is just not right.”