His unit is on the second floor of the building near the former Koreana Hotel.
“I noticed the front window screen lying on the ground and that immediately caught my attention and suspicion,” said the resident, who declined to be identified. “As I opened the deadbolt on my front door I heard the backdoor slam — I knew something was not right. I rushed to the rooms and noticed both laptops were gone, then I rushed out to the backdoor.”
He saw two local boys running down the hallway toward the fire exit.
“The taller individual in front was wearing a brown (tan) beanie cap, the smaller individual behind him was wearing a bright blue beanie cap and dark cargo shorts.”
The resident, a federal government employee, “ran down to ground floor to where I thought they could exit, but it was blocked off, so I ran to the third floor to get a better view of the back. I borrowed a wireless phone from a third floor tenant to call the police and got permission from another tenant to enter their unit so I could look out the back area.”
From the third floor balcony, the resident could see the burglars at the back of Koreana.
“At first glance, I noticed the individual with the blue beanie cap lying on the ground trying to get up and having a difficult time doing so while his partner in crime with the brown (tan) beanie cap and tan cargo shorts was finishing his climb from the second floor. Both slowly made their way to the Chalan Kanoa Beach Club area.”
The resident said he “rushed toward that area and intercepted them there — they both fled; the other one got away, but the injured individual ran into the water. I shouted at the kid to get out. As a crowd gathered I told him it was over because all the people gathering around could see his face, plus I think he was in pain because when he came out of the water his scalp looked like he was mauled by a grizzly bear. I suspect he exited hastily through the constantine (razor) wire in the back area of the apartment.”
The resident brought the boy back to the apartment “where the police were already swarming.”
“The last time I saw him he was on stretcher in a ambulance,” the resident said.
Back at his apartment, he noticed that “all his goods” — including two laptops — were laid out on the bed “ready to go, including the chargers.”
An inventory was done, and missing were a silver necklace, some loose change and two wristwatches.
“I thought my PSP was missing, but it was recovered by a detective during his interrogation,” the resident said. “The kid apparently had it in his pocket during his swim and interrogation. He denies having an accomplice — he claims he was all by himself.”
The boy is 12 years old while the one who got away “is distinctively older based on his built and height,” the resident said.
At least four units at the building have been burglarized in the past, with one unit hit twice, Variety learned.
There were also “numerous snatch and grab a laptop, or valuables in the business establishments downstairs during business hours and the breaking into cars in the parking lot.”
The resident said he is moving out of the building.
He visited the boy’s mother “so I could talk to her about her son’s welfare, considering how he almost disfigured his face and could have killed himself. The mother was not home at the time.”
The boy lives in the Chalan Kanoa area.
“The kid has been released already, the other perp got away, but I have an idea who he is and so do the police. The captured perp claims he was all by himself and he is sticking to that story — sounds like a recidivist in the making.”
Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Lei Ogumoro yesterday said the incident was reported to the police at 11:46 a.m. on Sunday.
She said the 12-year-old minor was already released from the hospital, but they had yet to arrest the other suspect.
(With Raquel C. Bagnol)
