Gunshots put pair in serious condition

Honcho Hernandez said he was home in Mililani when he heard cracks and pops from Kipapa Park early Monday morning. Must be fireworks, he thought.

He waited for cheers to punctuate the noise. Instead, he heard someone yell, "Get down!"

"I knew something wasn’t right," said Hernandez, 56.

He walked outside at about 1:30 a.m., and instead of finding early Independence Day revelers, he found two men with gunshot wounds. Both men were hospitalized in serious condition.

A 43-year-old Mililani man turned himself in at the Wahiawa police substation at about 4 a.m. Police booked him on suspicion of two counts of second-degree attempted murder.

The shooting was apparently the result of an argument that started at the Shack restaurant in Mililani, police said. Tony Confer, general manager and part owner of the Shack, said he left early Sunday night but spoke with employees later to learn what happened.

Shortly after midnight, Confer said, three men began arguing outside the restaurant. Confer said his employees told him the argument didn’t seem overly heated.

"They all knew each other," Confer said, "but they weren’t wrestling around or anything." The men were not connected to a fundraiser the Shack had hosted that evening, Confer said.

Police said the men who argued at the Shack are acquaintances. The suspect left, but returned with a gun and challenged the other two to a fight at Kipapa Park, police said.

At about 1:30 a.m., shots rang out at the park. Neighbors said they heard five or six shots.

When Hernandez got to the scene, someone was tending to one of the victims on a bench, he said. Hernandez said he found another victim was slumped over near the park’s trash cans, took off his shirt and used it to compress the wound.

"He started talking on the phone, talking to his dad, saying, ‘Dad, I just got shot,’" Hernandez said. "He sounded like he was going into shock."

Within minutes emergency personnel arrived. A 38-year-old man was taken to the hospital in very serious condition, and a 41-year-old man was hospitalized in serious condition.

The suspect has five previous convictions for misdemeanors or violations in Hawaii, and most recently one felony conviction for assault in 1994, according to state records.

"Nothing surprises me anymore, no matter what neighborhood it’s in," Hernandez said. "But I still feel good about Mililani."