Eyewitness recalls how he took down Chad Desoto

by Mindy Aguon

Guam - Fourteen people in total were sent to the hospital and three people died after the tragedy in Tumon. And in an exclusive interview, KUAM News talked with from the man who took down Chad Desoto - stopping him from continuing on his horrific rampage.   

Sid Tinoso was wrapping up his regular wait shift in Tumon on Tuesday night when he heard screaming coming from the San Vitores Road entrance of the hotel. "When I looked down to the escalator, people were all stacked up on top of the escalator coming up, all yelling and screaming," he recalled. "I was like, 'What the hell is going on?', so I ran down to check what the problem was, too just curious."

Tinoso said he saw people rushing through the sliding doors of the hotel and as he took a closer look he noticed a man waving a knife back and forth, trying to stab anyone he could reach. "I didn't think of anything, I just reacted. I jumped over those people tried to chase him.  I tried to get his attention first by taking off my shirt and using it as a guard. I got his attention so he started to run through Underwater World, o I chased him," he shared.

Tinoso says he chased after the man, who he later learned was the 21-year-old Desoto, as he ran across the street from Underwater World and then back to ABC Store. He continued, "That's where I realized that whoa, there's something worse. There's a lot of blood, people lying down. There's a car there. I didn't know the whole thing what was going on."

And what he watched next has haunted him repeatedly. "The lady was on her knees, trying to wake up her mom - the old lady on the ground holding the baby," Tinoso shuddered. "He ran in back of her and repeatedly stabbed her.  The baby dropped the same time she dropped, but the baby made a really bad sound. Out of instinct, already chasing him, I just jumped far and at the same time pushed him - we both rolled, he got up, still holding the knife, so I grabbed him by his waist."

Tinoso explains that Desoto tried to stab him and the two fell to the ground again, and that's when he was able to grab him, tear the knife from his hand and hold him down. "And that's when everybody began beating him, just punching him. I think it was the Japanese family, the husband," he said. "He didn't even say a word. Even when he was getting kicked the sh*t out of him, he let it be. He played possum with his eyes open," he said.

"All the times they were hitting him, I whispered to him what the f*ck did you do, man? What did you do? Turn over to your belly, man. You most likely won't get that much pain of them hitting you. So when he turned, I tried to cover him at the same time trying to stop them. I said, 'Okay we got him already. Stop hitting! Stop hitting him!'"

Tinoso remembers his face burning as he says nearby security guards had tried to spray mace on Desoto as he was running around. He says the police arrived quickly and since then he's been struggling to process everything that happened.

His biggest concern was of the mother and the baby.

"So just the dad and the baby going home? Wow," he said. "The baby - you know they came here for vacation and they gotta leave. Not as full. They gotta leave separately."

In fact, KUAM News has learned that 81-year-old Kazuko Uehara was the grandmother and-29 year-old Rie Sugihara was the sister of a groom of who was set to be married today. As a result of the horrific events from Tuesday night, the wedding was cancelled.

If the staffer's instincts hadn't kicked in, there could have been even more bloodshed. "When you see stuff like that, you don't try to be a hero or anything, you just automatically do it. You can only do what only you can do, it just happens," said Tinoso, adding that the situation was complete chaos. "I really thought this guy was out on a mission. He wasn't even scared to go back and do it again. What kind of man has that heart?"

As Tinoso, and many in the community try to come to grips with the tragic events, their thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. "I just wish the best for them," he said.

As a result of the third death from Tuesday's tragedy, Desoto is now being held on $3 million cash bail, as the prosecution this afternoon added on an additional charge against him for aggravated murder.