A Nuuanu couple was arrested Saturday after the woman allegedly hid her husband who is suspected of shooting her relative at a Nuuanu apartment complex last week.
The woman’s husband, Wellington Faleafine, 38, was charged Sunday with second-degree attempted murder and two firearm offenses. He was being held on $100,000 bail and expected to make a court appearance this morning.
The woman, 43, was arrested for investigation of hindering prosecution but was released pending investigation.
She was the resident manager at Nuuanu Garden Apartments until Saturday when the landlord replaced her and gave her and her husband 60 days to move out, other residents said. The woman was not available for comment.
Police said Faleafine shot a 27-year-old man several times in the head and torso with a .25-caliber gun during an argument at 10:13 p.m. Thursday at the apartment complex. The victim was taken to the Queen’s Medical Center in critical condition, but he was later upgraded to stable condition. The weapon has not been recovered.
Police arrested three men at about 11 p.m. Thursday in connection with the shooting, but Faleafine was identified as a suspect Friday. After police received information about his whereabouts, a search warrant was served at Faleafine’s home where police arrested the couple at about 4 p.m. Saturday.
One of the three men initially arrested, Michael Napeahi, 35, of Kuhio Park Terrace, was also charged with first-degree burglary.
Police said Napeahi, who was being held on $50,000 bail, broke into a home on Robello Lane on Thursday night, while police were searching for him in connection with the shooting.
The two other men, who were stopped in a van near School and Houghtailing streets, were released pending investigation at about 7 p.m. Friday.
Sueling Sanay, 33, a resident of the complex at 1719 Nuuanu Ave., said three gunshots woke her up Thursday night. She looked out her second-floor apartment in time to see two men in white T-shirts get into the passenger side of an older-model white van. After the van took off, she went outside and saw people coming from her resident manager’s ground-floor unit. They gathered around a man lying motionless in the parking lot in front of Faleafine’s apartment.
Sanay heard Faleafine’s wife call police and tell them someone had shot her cousin, who had been drinking. Sanay recognized the man lying on the ground as a regular visitor at Faleafine’s home. That same night, police took Sanay to the Chevron gas station at School and Houghtailing streets to identify two men in a van that police had stopped.
Sanay said she told police the men were not those she saw flee. Officers also took Sanay to identify a man caught trying to burglarize a home on Robello Lane. Sanay again told police he was not one of the men.
When Sanay learned that police arrested the husband of her former resident manager, she was shocked.
"He’s a good guy," she said, adding that he was quiet and usually helped with repairs around the complex. "(The couple) was great people. They really took care of this place."
