The Oahu Community Correctional Center inmate who was shot and killed by a guard Friday night had escaped from the Kalihi jail by bolting through a secured door and then dashing 60 yards past a vehicle gate as it was closing.
Department of Public Safety Director Nolan Espinda said correctional officers pursued the 47-year-old inmate on foot and in vehicles through an adjacent Kalihi neighborhood while repeatedly ordering him to stop.
The inmate, Maurice Arrisgado Jr., was felled by a single gunshot to the upper torso at 6:10 p.m. outside St. Anthony Catholic Church near the intersection of Kaumualii Street and Puuhale Road. He died 33 minutes later in a hospital emergency room.
During a news conference Saturday at DPS headquarters in Honolulu, Espinda said deadly force is authorized by law as needed to stop a fleeing inmate.
“Officers are trained to shoot and stop, and that’s what he did,” he said.
Public safety officials declined to disclose the identity of the correctional officer who shot Arrisgado, but said he has been employed by the department since August 2013. While the incident is being investigated, the officer has been reassigned to a post where he won’t be armed with a gun.
RECENT OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTINGS
>> March 1: Attempted-murder suspect Maurice Arrisgado Jr., 47, was shot and killed by a Department of Public Safety correctional officer after escaping from Oahu Community Correctional Center in Kalihi.
>> Feb. 21: Casey Asato, 37, was critically injured when he was shot by police outside his Waikele residence after he was allegedly involved in a shooting incident at a Kakaako business earlier in the day.
>> Feb. 20: Theft suspect Kyle Thomas was fatally shot by police near the Mililani Walmart after allegedly driving his truck toward an officer.
>> Feb. 18: Delmar Espejo, 28, was fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy during a scuffle at the state Capitol.
>> Jan. 29: A 51-year-old man was fatally shot after steering his speeding vehicle toward an officer during a traffic stop in Kalihi.
Meanwhile, investigators with the Honolulu Police Department, the state Department of the Attorney General and the DPS Internal Affairs office are looking into the incident as is protocol, Espinda said.
He described Arrisgado as a probation violator who was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of first-degree attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and was being held at OCCC on a $500,000 warrant.
In that incident, police were trying to serve a bail revocation warrant on Arrisgado when he fled. When the officers tried to gain control of him, he allegedly tried to stab an officer two times, according to police.
Officers were finally able to arrest Arrisgado in the Manoa area with the help of a civilian bystander, police said.
On Friday, Arrisgado had been brought back to OCCC following a court appearance and was in an area at the front of the jail where inmates are processed as they enter and leave the facility. Guards had removed Arrisgado’s ankle shackles, which are used during transport, and he was waiting to be returned to his cell, Espinda said.
Preliminary reports, Espinda said, indicate Arrisgado bolted from the intake and release unit with correctional officers in pursuit. He managed to get through a secured door and the front gate, and also ran past armed guards in the jail’s perimeter towers and elsewhere on the property.
Arrisgado dashed across Kamehameha Highway and eventually made it to Bannister Street in a nearby residential area before ending up near the church. It was there the correctional officer saw him leaving the church property and the shooting occurred, Espinda said.
The inmate was then picked up by a DPS van and taken to the jail, where he was treated by medical staff until a crew from Emergency Medical Services arrived and took him to a hospital.
“An escape is a major mistake,” Espinda said. “Those things just don’t happen.”
The shooting occurred as St. Anthony parishioners were attending a Eucharistic devotion held on the first Friday of the month. Churchgoers and staff interviewed by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Saturday said they were unaware of the commotion.
Espinda said the investigations will look into every detail of the incident to determine any mistakes by DPS staff and shortcomings in security protocols. Among the evidence investigators will examine is video from the jail’s surveillance cameras, he said.
“It’s our responsibility and expectation, if need be, to hold those accountable,” Espinda said.
Friday’s shooting was the fifth involving Honolulu police or DPS personnel on Oahu this year, and Arrisgado is the fourth person killed in such incidents. Last year there were 11 officer-involved shootings with a total of six fatalities, the highest number of fatal police shootings on Oahu since 2013.
Espinda said it was still early in the case and he didn’t have all the facts and wasn’t going to question the actions of his correctional officers.
“They were in the midst of a very critical incident,” he said. “The decisions they made will be evaluated during the course of investigation. Far be it by me right here to second- guess anyone.”
Espinda said the decision to use a firearm on an escapee is left to each officer.
“It’s the individual officer’s decision based on what’s happening at the moment, and this is the decision the officer made. And our evaluation and investigation will determine the legitimacy of that decision.”
