CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
As standard procedure, three officers involved in the fatal shooting were placed on paid administrative leave after the incident. Two of the officers each have 16 years of service and the third has six years with the Police Department.
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A 33-year-old man who was fatally shot by police while attempting to flee in a stolen vehicle in Aiea has been identified as Pekelo R. Sanchez.
Sanchez died Feb. 11 after he was shot in the torso.
The shooting occurred that morning when police responded to a complaint from a resident of a suspicious vehicle parked in her stall at the Pacific Village townhome subdivision, mauka of Pearlridge Center. Officers arrived and observed Sanchez and a 19-year-old woman asleep in the Dodge pickup truck, which they determined had been reported stolen.
Police said the pair refused to get out of the truck, and officers shattered the driver’s-side rear window in an attempt to remove the suspects.
Police said Sanchez tried to flee by driving erratically in the parking lot — dragging two officers, and striking two townhouses and a parked SUV before police fired gunshots multiple times.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police arrested the 19-year-old woman on $61,000 in outstanding warrants and unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle.
Sanchez had a criminal record that includes auto theft, drug charges, resisting an order to stop, resisting arrest and assault on a law enforcement officer.
As standard procedure, three officers involved in the shooting were placed on paid administrative leave after the incident. Two of the officers each have 16 years of service and the third has six years with the Police Department.
