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An 18-year-old Waianae High School student who admitted stabbing another student during a fight on campus was found dead Monday in Oahu Community Correctional Center in what officials say was a suicide.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office said Ikaika Andrade’s death was caused by asphyxia due to suicidal hanging.
Andrade was scheduled to be sentenced next week by Circuit Judge Colette Garibaldi. He had pleaded no contest to second-degree assault and faced up to five years in jail.
A social worker found Andrade unresponsive in an OCCC holding unit after a head count at 12:20 p.m. Monday, the Department of Public Safety reported. He was alone in the cell.
Adult corrections officers performed CPR to try to get Andrade’s heart started. Paramedics took Andrade to the Queen’s Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:29 p.m.
Prison officials said they investigated the incident and determined it was a suicide.
Police said Andrade and a 19-year-old male student argued on Jan. 4 over earphones at Waianae High School. They left a classroom and began to fight. Andrade allegedly stabbed the 19-year-old. School staff intervened and detained Andrade until police arrived. The victim was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
Andrade was initially arrested on suspicion of second-degree attempted murder, but the charge was later reduced to second-degree assault.
Andrade had been held in Oahu Community Correctional Center awaiting sentencing, unable to post $25,000 bail.
In a separate incident, he was sentenced to six days’ confinement after being convicted of third-degree theft in September.
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