Police fatally shoot man in Aiea

Honolulu police said they fatally shot a man Saturday after he and a woman resisted arrest and attempted to flee in a stolen vehicle at an Aiea townhouse complex, dragging two police officers.

The deceased man, described as in his early 30s, has yet to be identified, pending notification of next of kin.

Assistant Police Chief Richard Robinson of the Honolulu Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division described the event at a news conference at HPD headquarters.

About 8:40 a.m. at the Pacific Village townhouse subdivision at 98-269 Ualo St., police responded to a complaint from a resident of a suspicious vehicle parked in her stall in a small parking lot.

Three officers observed the man and a 19-year-old woman asleep in the front seats of a blue Dodge pickup truck, Robinson said.

Officers learned the truck was reported stolen from Ewa Beach Friday. Police woke the occupants. “The suspects awoke and refused to open the doors or surrender to the officers,” Robinson said.

The officers shattered the rear driver’s side window in an attempt to remove the suspects from the vehicle. At that point, the driver started the vehicle and accelerated forward, “dragging two officers with him,” Robinson said.

The vehicle then struck a townhouse. The suspect then reversed the vehicle at high speed while still dragging the two officers until he struck a parked SUV in the parking lot.

Robinson said the driver accelerated again, dragging one officer and ramming into a second townhouse. The residents were not in the homes at the time.

The driver reversed a second time and then accelerated.

“At this point, because of the very close proximity and that the officer being dragged was trapped between the building and the vehicle, two officers discharged their weapons from the driver’s side of the vehicle, one through the driver’s side rear window and one through the driver’s side window, striking the suspect multiple times,” Robinson said.

The suspect was shot in the torso and pronounced dead at the scene.

The three responding officers were taken to Pali Momi Medical Center to be treated for non-life threatening injuries that included a minor head injury and scrapes. The three officers, all assigned to District 3, were expected to be released Saturday.

As standard procedure, the three officers will be placed on paid administrative leave. Two officers each have 16 years of service and the third officer has six years of service with the department.

Police arrested the 19-year-old woman on $61,000 in outstanding warrants and on suspicion of second-degree unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle. She also was taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries unrelated to the shooting.

A townhouse resident, Nani Estevez, 32, said she woke up to officers yelling at the suspects to get out of a vehicle.

She saw officers standing on both sides of the truck and officers breaking the rear window in an attempt to arrest the suspect. She heard five gunshots fired after the vehicle was driving erratically in front of her townhome. Estevez said she worried about the safety of her eight children, ranging in age from 1 to 10.

“It’s crazy,” said Estevez, who has lived at Pacific Village for four years, saying it was like watching a movie scene.

Police said the incident lasted about eight minutes from the time police responded until the shots were fired.

There were no reports of injuries to residents.

Robinson said he empathized with residents whose homes were struck by the vehicle and those who observed the event. It’s very traumatic and upsetting, he said.

“This is a situation that the suspect had many options that he could’ve exercised to bring this to a very peaceful end. If they force a situation, officers are then placed in a situation where they have to take action to protect the people around and protect themselves,” he added.

“The suspect created this situation by his choices of being in a stolen car and in his choice to resist and fight against police officers who were trying to take him into custody.”

The male suspect has a criminal record of six felony convictions, including three for auto theft and three for drugs. He also has a misdemeanor conviction for assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest and refusing to stop a vehicle.

Robinson said HPD has initiated an investigation of the deceased suspect on two counts of attempted first-degree murder, criminal property damage and auto theft.

A previous police-involved shooting occurred two months ago in Mililani. On Dec. 1, officers responded to a report of a stolen vehicle at the Mililani Burger King parking lot.

The driver of an Ford F-150 pickup truck allegedly rammed into a police subsidized vehicle and accelerated, nearly striking an officer.

The officer fired shots at the driver and the front seat passenger. Emergency Medical Services reported two people were taken to a hospital. A 30-year-old man sustained a gunshot wound to his upper right back while a 31-year-old man had apparent gunshot wounds to his hip and right elbow.