California couple reveal their chilling escape from masked gunman who hunted them while on vacation

By Rachel Bowman For Dailymail.Com 13:41 07 Jul 2024, updated 14:19 07 Jul 2024

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A California couple that was chased at gunpoint during a carjacking while on vacation in Hawaii have revealed chilling new details of the attack. 

Alex and Justina Lucero were in Maui for a work trip and decided to use their free day, June 4, to explore the island.

They adventured through Paia and Hana when things took a turn for the worse and a masked gunman commandeered their rental car.

The carjacker proceeded to chase the couple up Haleakalā while firing shots at them and forced them to camp out overnight.

'We almost didn't make it home, and our lives are forever changed now after what has happened,' Justina told KHON2. 

'And we're lucky to have gotten through it together, but this could have gone so many other ways.'

The Luceros were driving a rental silver Ford Mustang on the Kaupō side of Haleakalā when they noticed a road closed sign that was pushed off to the side.

'We were told earlier that day by some local, 'Yeah, you can go all the way through. It used to be closed, but it's not anymore.' So we weren't suspicious of anything like that,' Justina said. 

'And we were told that, you know, the locals there will use the same road, and if they come up behind you, just pull off to the side and let them pass, because they're going to be not looking at the same scenery the way that you will.' 

Shortly after they passed the road closed sign, they noticed a truck behind them and Alex pulled over to wave the other vehicle on to pass them. 

As they got around a blind curve, the truck was barreling at them and blocked off the road so they could not pass.

'[The driver] jumps out and comes right at us with the gun and stops us in the middle of the street,' Justina said.

Alex told the local news station their attacker was wearing a mask, a hood and a sweatshirt.

'[He ordered us to] Leave all valuables, leave the keys… empty your pockets, leave everything in the car, and start walking that way now,' Alex said.

The couple obeyed and started to walk towards Hana when they heard the car start.

'Now, he's coming towards us. So we very, very quickly went from a fast walk to a sprint up this gulch,' Alex said. 

The Luceros made a split second decision to run up the volcano and find a place to hid while the gunman hunted them.

'He's yelling for us to show ourselves. 'Yeah, I'll find you. I'll find you.' And he, at some point, he counts down from, I don't know if it was 10 or I heard him at five. And at the end of it, he shot the gun off,' said Alex.

'At that point, we knew it was loaded. We knew he meant business,' said Justina.

As the couple sought safety, they observed a white multi-passenger van with a taxi sign join their hunter.

'They rendezvoused. They came up with some type of, they had some type of interaction, this vehicle and our rental car, and we knew at that point that this guy was in on finding us,' Alex said. 

Justina said they were overwhelmed with 'this feeling of being hunted and not knowing the extent of, you know, what they would do, what they wanted and who he had at his fingertips to help.' 

As nightfall approached, the couple hiked higher into the summit district where temperatures are at least 20 degrees colder than at sea level and often drop below freezing.

By daybreak the Luceros were unsure of who they could trust as they searched for help.

Tour helicopters flew by without noticing them and they were worried two men they saw on horseback could have been helping their attacker.

Finally, they were able to flag down a park ranger and their nightmare came to an end.

'At this point, he had a suspect in mind who fits the profile, who fits the heinous act, because he is such a menace, that's what he said' Alex said.

Four days later, the Maui Police Department arrested Christopher Helmer on warrants for a separate kidnapping and terroristic threat from May, reported HawaiiNewsNow.

'At the time of his arrest, Helmer was operating the stolen Mustang and had a loaded firearm. Following his arrest, further investigation resulted in the recovery of additional evidence linking him to the robbery and the recovery of the Tacoma, which was found to be a stolen vehicle,' Maui Police said.

A grand jury indicted Helmer on June 21 for charges including, first degree robbery, firearm and drug offenses, along with driving a stolen vehicle. His bail has been set at $500,000 and he remains in police custody.