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A man who shot his ailing wife Sunday in Hawaii Kai in an apparent murder-suicide was a retired Honolulu police major, police said Monday.
The Medical Examiner’s Office identified the couple as Leighton Yasuhara, 81, and wife Julia, 79.
A police spokeswoman confirmed that Yasuhara served on the Honolulu police force, retiring as a major in 1984. Other details of Yasuhara’s service record were not available.
Police said Yasuhara’s son heard three gunshots coming from their bedroom when he checked on them after his father unexpectedly canceled an appointment Sunday morning.
The man went to his parents’ Anakua Street home just before 11 a.m. and tried to get into the bedroom after hearing the shots, but the door was locked, police said. He called 911, and patrol units discovered what appeared to be a murder-suicide.
An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.
The couple was unresponsive, and paramedics at the scene pronounced them dead.
The woman was suffering from a long-term illness, police said.
A spokesman for Aha Hui o na Makai Hauola, a club for retired Honolulu police officers, said Yasuhara "was very close" to his wife.
"I can understand he would want to be with her."