One of two men involved in a crime spree in April that ended in a shootout with police admitted in state court Monday that he carjacked three vehicles that day and helped to carjack a fourth.
Michael Edward Manning Jr. pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery, being an accomplice to first-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree robbery and being a felon in possession of ammunition.
As part of his plea deal, Manning has agreed to accept a 20-year prison term when he is sentenced in January.
Police said the series of crimes started with a car theft downtown and ended less than an hour later in a shootout with police on Kalanianaole Highway near Kahala.
Manning, 38, also pleaded guilty Monday to breaking into and attempting to drive away a stolen vehicle in January. He was free on $20,000 bail and awaiting trial on that charge when he committed the carjackings.
Mark Ahnee, the other man involved in the April 17 crime spree, died in the shootout.
Police said Ahnee, 28, fired at officers with a sawed-off shotgun, the same weapon believed used in a attempted jewelry store robbery in Waikele five days earlier.
The series of events that ended with Ahnee’s death and Manning’s capture began, police said, with the two stealing a parked vehicle in the Kukui Plaza condominium complex. They then went to Pensacola Street, where they stole another parked vehicle, which they used to drive to Kamehameha Avenue near the University of Hawaii.
Near UH a 911 caller reported seeing two men attempting to break into a vehicle, police said.
Police said the pair then went to Bingham Street in McCully, where they stole a third vehicle.
Officers followed the stolen car as it traveled east on the H-1 freeway, then crashed into a barrier on Kalanianaole Highway near Ainakoa Avenue.
After the crash, Ahnee and Manning tried to hijack a flatbed truck but split up after they were unable to start it, police said.
Police said they shot Ahnee after he fired the shotgun at an officer and confronted the driver of another vehicle. Manning stole a car nearby, drove to Kuliouou and stole another vehicle after threatening a resident with a screwdriver, and was arrested on Nenue Place near Holy Nativity Church.
