The city’s Medical Examiner office has identified the 88-year-old man who died after a fire at his Waipahu home as Manuel Baptista.
The cause of death was not available at this time, officials said Wednesday.
Firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire at Baptista’s single-family home on Kipou Street on Friday morning. Neighbors called 911 after seeing smoke coming from his living room window and flames inside and informed firefighters that Baptista was still inside. Firefighters found him in the living room, trying to escape.
They brought him outside and treated him until paramedics arrived. The blaze was extinguished at 6:24 a.m.
A battalion chief said Baptista was conscious and breathing at first, but his condition worsened and he was in critical condition when Emergency Medical Services personnel took him to a hospital, where he died Sunday.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation, said Honolulu Fire Department spokesman David Jenkins. Damage to the structure and its contents is estimated at $60,000.
Guard’s gun missing from prison is recovered
Honolulu police on Wednesday recovered a handgun that disappeared from a restroom at Oahu Community Correctional Center.
Honolulu police and state deputy sheriffs earlier launched a search for a woman identified as a “person of interest” in connection with the missing firearm.
An OCCC adult correctional officer left a .38-caliber revolver in a public unisex restroom at the main entrance at about 1 p.m. When the officer went back to get it, the firearm was gone, said Toni Schwartz, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman.
A former pretrial detainee, Janelle Newcomb, 35, was seen in the area and was identified as a person of interest, according to a DPS news release. She was located and arrested and the gun was recovered Wednesday evening, Schwartz said. Newcomb had been released from OCCC on Oct. 13 when her case was dismissed. She was picking up personal belongings at OCCC Wednesday.
