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Christopher Myers
Detectives arrested a 23-year-old Salt Lake man this morning for investigation of second-degree murder in connection with an early morning fight Sunday that left a 35-year-old Army sergeant and father dead on Kapiolani Boulevard.
Police said the altercation occurred Sunday morning fronting Club Saigon Passion III, at 1420 Kapiolani Blvd.
The suspect, Aysa K. Delos Santos, was arrested at the main police station at 1:40 a.m.
The victim, whom police identified as Christopher Myers, was found dead at about 7:30 a.m. with suspicious injuries at 1440 Kapiolani Blvd., the office tower next to the bar at the Keeaumoku Street intersection.
Myers was a noncommissioned officer in the psychology department at Tripler Army Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.
He arrived at Tripler in April 2009 and has a wife and three children in Hawaii, she said.
“He was a good soldier who served in Kosovo in 1999 and a 15-month tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2007-2008,” Tripler spokeswoman Jan Clark wrote in an e-mail. “The Tripler staff is truly saddened by the loss of one of their own. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and children.”
Toby Wakumoto, who works at Phiten Shop Ala Moana, said a security guard found the man lying in a corner of the building and thought he was asleep. He saw the body covered with a towel and was told that Myers had a lump or a welt on the back of his head.
The city Medical Examiner’s Office said this morning it is still trying to determine the cause and manner of death.
A police source said it did not appear a weapon was used.
Police initially classified the case as an unattended death, then reclassified it as second-degree murder.
Yesterday, police asked for the public’s help in finding witnesses to the fight.
Clark, Tripler’s spokeswoman, said Myers’ unit is helping the family with their needs.
