HONOLULU -- A taxi driver said he got the scare of his life Wednesday.

Robbed at gunpoint up on Tantalus drive, the cabbie is grateful for the passing motorist who called for help.

Patrol officers from District 1 responded to the 911 call of armed robbery.

The cab driver said it was about 11 a.m. when he picked up a customer near King and Alakea streets.

The young man asked to be taken to Tantalus where he was meeting a friend but it was at a clearing when things went bad, "He says, 'You pull over.' I pull over and he holds a gun to my head he says, 'You give me all your money and your phone or I shoot you,'" taxi driver Non Ngo said.

Ngo said he was terrified all he could think of was his friend and co-worker who was killed by a customer at the Tantalus lookout two years ago.

Besides Mahn Nguyen, a cabbie from Vietnam, the gunman also killed a Kaimuki couple. Jason and Coleen Tagamori had driven up to enjoy the night view. They too were shot dead.

Police arrested Adam Mau for those murders. He is currently undergoing psychiatric evaluation.

No one was hurt in Wednesday's robbery. Police said they responded quickly.

The taxi driver said he tried to run the gunman down but he managed to escape into the bushes.

Police said they gave chase and caught up with the man further down the hill. They said they also found a gun.

The 19-year-old from Kailua freely admitted to the holdup.

"I robbed the taxi driver," he said. "Yeah, I put a gun to his head."

When asked why he did it he said, "I owed a drug dealer or he said he would kill my family if I didn't."

Sadly the cabbie said the teenager was not much older than his own son.

After the last shooting, drivers stopped taking customers up to Tantalus at night. After Wednesday Ngo said he won't come up there in daylight either.