Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
Honolulu police opened a second-degree murder investigation after officers discovered the body of a male in a stolen vehicle in Wahiawa on Wednesday morning.
The vehicle is believed to be associated with an attempted murder investigation on March 31, according to the Honolulu Police Department, which did not release further details.
“There are suspicious circumstances,” said Sarah Yoro, spokeswoman of the HPD said about Wednesday’s incident.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office said positive identification of the male is pending.
Officers closed Kamananui Road between Kaukonahua Road and Kamehameha Highway after Honolulu police received a 911 call at 6:30 a.m. and responded to the area. Detectives appeared to be searching an area covered with tall grass on the Haleiwa side of Kamehameha Highway, across from the Green World Coffee Farm.
An employee at the coffee farm said police advised them to secure their gate on Kamananui Road during the investigation. The gate on Kamehameha Highway remained open to the public.
A police helicopter hovered over the grassy area and a vehicle from the medical examiner’s office was observed parked along the eastbound shoulder of the highway near the intersection of Nui Avenue. Yellow police tape stretched across grassy areas along sections of west- and eastbound shoulders of the highway.
Police reopened Kamananui Road about 1:30 p.m.
On March 31, the body of a 30-year-old Wahiawa man was found in the same area on Kamehameha Highway at Kamananui Road.
In that case, a California couple told police they were following a van on Kamehameha Highway early that morning, when it swerved to the right and they saw a man standing in the middle of the roadway.
The couple said he jumped in front of their vehicle, made demands, pointed a gun and fired, hitting the woman driver. She drove a little farther, then stopped to call 911. She was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
While heading to the shooting, officers got a report of a body in the middle of the road. They found a man with a gunshot wound to the head, and recovered a firearm at the scene.
Police classified the case as an attempted murder as it relates to the woman.
The couple later identified the dead man as the person who shot at them.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office identified him as Dallas Kaahanui, and ruled his death a suicide.
Star-Advertiser reporter Leila Fujimori contributed to this story.
70
