Supporters of slain Elderts want accused killer fired

About 100 people marched through downtown Friday calling for Christopher Deedy to be fired as a State Department special agent for shooting and killing a Kai­lua man in 2011.

The march was held on the second day of Deedy’s retrial for the November 2011 death of 23-year-old Kollin Elderts.

"We still haven’t accepted it, the loss of our brother," said Elderts’ oldest brother, Zachary, 33, after the march. "It’s like we’re still waiting for him to maybe come home."

"We’re still lost, empty, not the same as we once were when he was around," he said.

He asked the government to fire Deedy.

"He’s still allowed to have his job, which is not right in a lot of people’s eyes," Elderts said.

His brother, Ikaika Elderts-Bruhn, said in a prepared statement that keeping Deedy employed is tantamount to declaring Elderts’ death a "good kill."

"Help us find justice and fight to ensure that (Deedy) will never be able to hide behind a badge again and kill another one of our sons, brothers, daughters or sisters," he said.

A petition calling for Deedy to be fired from his job has collected more than 1,300 signatures, according to a group called Justice for Kollin Elderts.

The group had planned to deliver a copy of the petition to the Diplomatic Security Service office at First Hawaiian Center, but it was closed Friday. Group members were turned away by building security and not allowed to leave the petition or drop it off in a mailbox, said Kalama Niheu, a spokes­woman for Justice for Kollin Elderts.

She said during the past two weeks, the agent who runs the Hono­lulu office hasn’t returned a group member’s calls attempting to schedule an appointment.

Instead, the group marched outside the center and continued on to 1st Circuit Court where Deedy’s retrial was underway.

Deedy, 30, of Arlington, Va., is accused of murdering Elderts, of Kai­lua, with a gunshot to the chest at the Kuhio Avenue McDonald’s restaurant in the early morning of Nov. 5, 2011.

The first trial ended Aug. 26 in a mistrial after the jury, which was not allowed to consider manslaughter as a lesser charge, could not agree on a second-degree murder conviction.

Deedy confirmed Friday that he is still employed by the Diplomatic Security Service but declined comment on the petition, as did his lawyer Thomas Otake because of the ongoing case.

Niheu said the group would deliver the petition by way of certified mail Monday.

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security in Los Angeles, which oversees Hawaii, said Friday it had no comment and that a spokes­man would be available Monday.

Deedy was in Hono­lulu to provide security for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and was off-duty when he went to the McDonald’s in Wai­kiki after a night of bar-hopping with friends. In his first trial he testified that he saw Elderts harassing other customers and was trying to intervene when the shooting occurred.

The protesters began their march at about noon at Iolani Palace, escorted by aloha-attired officers from the Hono­lulu Police Department’s Civil Affairs Division. Marchers blew conch shells, wore white "Justice for Kollin Elderts" T-shirts and chanted in Hawaiian.

Cora Tolentino, who was on her way to lunch from First Hawaiian Center, stopped to let the group pass.

"Everybody has a right to protest," she said. "I can see both sides, but I haven’t really formed an opinion."