Teens recount fatal shooting in Kalihi as hearing begins

Teenage witnesses of the Nov. 7 shooting in Kalihi recalled the events surrounding the death of 16-year-old Starsky Willy as the preliminary hearing for 50-year-old Richard Obrero began Thursday.

More than 40 of Willy’s family and friends appeared at First Circuit District Court during the hearing, filling the courtroom gallery and waiting area outside. Some wore red shirts that read “Justice IV Starsky.”

Obrero also was present in the courtroom in a light blue jumpsuit, slippers and chains around his ankles, but he was silent throughout the hearing.

The four witnesses — all male and current or former Farrington High School students — described a typical night rotating between different groups of friends at the Kalihi Valley Homes public housing complex.

Two of the witnesses, 15-year-old Mainean Lucas and 17-year-old Welo Williander, were with Willy just minutes prior to the shooting.

Lucas said that just past 11 p.m., Willy left but indicated that he would return shortly. Lucas indicated he did not know why Willy had decided to leave.

A few minutes later, Willy ran back already shot to Lucas and Williander. Williander said he saw that Lucas had a wound on his left side in the rib area.

Testimonies also revealed that police officers were apparently at Obrero’s property, which shares a fence with Kalihi Valley Homes property, investigating a burglary when Obrero fired three shots at a group of boys at around 11 p.m., and that one of the boys had fired back with a BB gun.

Penitila “Jr.” Faamoe, 18, who had grown up in Kalihi Valley Homes and had recently moved to Hawaii Kai, was waiting for the bus back home when he heard the gunshots.

He said he pulled out a silver and black BB handgun after the gunman fired his gun for the third time. The first shot had presumably hit Willy, and Faamoe said the second and third shots damaged a car parked on the housing complex property.

Doris Lum, a public defender representing Obrero, asked Faamoe, “So, the police were already there, and yet you pulled out your BB gun and shot?”

“I shot at him because he was shooting his gun,” Faamoe said, later adding that he saw police vehicle lights coming from Obrero’s driveway.

A few minutes later, Lum asked, “So you saw police lights in the man’s driveway, is that correct? And from that point, you’re saying that when he shot the second shot, police were already there?”

“That’s what I’m saying,” he responded.

Faamoe said that police had arrived earlier to investigate a robbery on Obrero’s property.

Coeby Lokeni, 18, was waiting for a bus with his cousin Faamoe when they heard the gunshots, and said he was approached earlier by a police officer asking about a burglary.

There were no indications that Willy or Obrero had ever crossed property lines.

Attorney Michael Green, who had represented Obrero before Lum in the wake of the shooting, said initial information he had received indicated that a group of males had trespassed onto Obrero’s property.

The preliminary hearing continues today at 1:30 p.m.