Man held in vendor’s death is released without charges

A 30-year-old man arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 70-year-old man who sold newspapers in Kaimuki was released Wednesday from police custody pending further investigation.

Honolulu police arrested Gary Landis on suspicion of murder in the Nov. 9 death of Thaddeus “Ted” Pirga Jr. of Hawaii Kai.

Police released Landis on Wednesday; he was not charged.

Officers arrested Landis at the main police station Tuesday, a week after he was released from Oahu Community Correctional Center.

In February, Landis entered a guilty plea to a second-degree robbery charge for stealing items from Food Pantry on Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki.

Police arrested Landis on Nov. 12 for taking a pack of razor blades and a deck of cards valued at $9.08, according to a police affidavit. Landis also punched a security guard in the face, police said. The guard stopped Landis and detained him until police arrived.

Landis was sentenced to four months’ probation May 26 and released from prison a day later. He had been confined at Oahu Community Correctional Center for the past seven months.

Pirga, a retired welder and popular seller of the Sunday Honolulu Star-Advertiser in Kaimuki, was stabbed as he prepared to sell newspapers near Cafe Miro on Waialae Avenue. Police responded to the scene at 3:40 a.m., and paramedics took Pirga in critical condition to a hospital, where he died.

In late April, CrimeStoppers released grainy surveillance images of a man riding a moped who was wanted for questioning. He was described as possibly having a mohawk haircut, tattoos on both forearms and wearing an aloha shirt.