Man shot by police was awaiting mental fitness hearing

The 55-year-old former prison guard shot and killed by police Friday had an upcoming trial for a 2017 terroristic threatening case in which he allegedly threatened a neighbor with a machete.

Renie Cablay’s jury trial in that threatening case, set for May 7, had been delayed pending a May 30 mental fitness hearing, but a court-­appointed psychologist requested the court continue the fitness hearing for July 3.

Cablay’s son Kevin posted on Facebook that his father suffered from psychological issues and severe paranoia in the past two years but had problems most of his life.

Court records of alleged crimes and restraining orders against him show that Cablay’s mental health was called into question time and again.

He resigned last year from his job as an adult corrections officer at Oahu Community Correctional Center, where he had worked from February 1994 to October 2017, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Toni Schwartz said. Cablay had been on leave from work Sept. 30 when he allegedly threatened his neighbor.

The 55-year-old Cablay had been free on $50,010 bail in the threat case when police said he fled the scene of a motor vehicle collision Friday.

A police officer tracked the registered owner of the vehicle, which turned out to be Cablay, to the Leolua Regent apartments, at 94-099 Waipahu St. The officer spotted and identified him as the suspect in the hit-and-run crash and ordered him to stop in the courtyard of the apartment complex.

Instead, Cablay pulled out a large knife and lunged at the officer, then ran up to his second-floor apartment, police said.

The officer, fearing for the safety of anyone inside, entered Cablay’s apartment, Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard said Saturday at a news conference. Cablay again allegedly lunged at the officer with the knife. That’s when the officer fired three shots at Cablay.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office said Cablay died of gunshot wounds to his neck and torso at the scene of the shooting.

After Cablay allegedly threatened his neighbor with a machete Sept. 30, he was holed up in his apartment for more than six hours while a police SWAT team and canine units swarmed the building’s courtyard. He finally surrendered to police peacefully.

On Sept. 12, two weeks prior to the alleged machete threat, Cablay was accused of physically abusing Florence Cablay, a family or household member, and a law enforcement officer.

Florence Cablay filed for a temporary restraining order Sept. 13.

An Oahu grand jury indicted Cablay Oct. 19 on charges of assaulting a law enforcement officer and abuse of a family or household member.

On March 27 the court appointed examiners to determine whether Cablay was mentally fit to proceed with trial in that case.

The court in that case also rescheduled the mental fitness hearing to July 3.

In December 1995 his ex-wife, Belina Cablay, took out a TRO against him. She obtained another one in March 1998.

She filed for divorce and got another restraining order April 1, 1998. At that time the judge ordered Renie Cablay to The Queen’s Medical Center for a mental evaluation.